A Welsh backpacker is back home after she was detained at the border in Blaine and transported to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Tacoma.
Becky Burke, 28, was detained on Feb. 26 after she attempted to enter Canada with an incorrect visa. Her dad made a Facebook post about her situation that went viral and has been shared 22,000 times.
Now after 19 days of being held at a processing center, she’s back home as of Tuesday, March 18, according to the BBC. She reunited with her family and friends at Heathrow Airport in London.
Burke’s story put international attention on the poor conditions at the Tacoma facility, which have been well-documented. Detainees have filed hundreds of complaints in the last two years over issues like neglected hygiene, poor food and inadequate medical care, according to a Washington State Standard report.
Washington state health and workplace inspectors were repeatedly denied entry to the for-profit federal immigration detention center despite the multitude of complaints.
The notorious facility inspired House Bill 1470, a state law passed in 2023 that was meant to bring more state oversight to the Northwest ICE Processing Center, the WSS reported.
A spokesperson for ICE confirmed Burke was “repatriated” to the U.K.
Burke was on the trip of a lifetime, her father Paul Burke told the BBC. She started her U.S. trip on the East Coast on Jan. 9 before flying from New York to Portland, Oregon. She stayed with a host family, trading household chores in return for accommodation.
Burke then worked her way north through Seattle with the hope of visiting Vancouver, British Columbia, to stay with another family, according to the BBC.
“Unfortunately, due to an incorrect visa, she was denied entry into Canada,” Paul wrote in the Facebook post. “When she tried to return to the U.S., she was refused re-entry and classified as an ‘illegal alien.’”
Burke spoke with the BBC from the ICE facility in Tacoma, calling the conditions horrendous and that it was hard to distinguish the facility from a prison.
She stayed in a dormitory with 110 people and told the BBC “they wake us up at 6:30 a.m. There is never enough time to sleep. It’s so cold.”
Friends of Burke raised more than $11,000 to get her home, according to BBC. Remaining funds will go toward charities in Seattle helping people in similar situations.
Annie Todd is CDN’s criminal justice/enterprise reporter; reach her at annietodd@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 130.
