A UK tourist has been locked up in an ICE detention center for more than 10 days over a “visa mix-up”—and her return to the UK may be further delayed due to Donald Trump’s recent purge of immigration judges.

In March 2025, a claim spread that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained British tourist Becky Burke in Washington state after she was refused entry into the U.S. Snopes readers wrote to us to ask about the legitimacy of a Facebook post purportedly written by Burke's father,

The woman’s travel nightmare has raised questions about immigration enforcement and delays for people who need to go before an immigration judge.

A German man visiting his fiancée in the U.S. has claimed he was forced to spend two weeks in immigration detention after being arrested by border officers near San Diego. Lucas Sielaff, 25, told ABC News 10,

In a statement to NewsNation, an ICE spokesperson said Burke was detained by the agency "for violation of the terms and conditions of her admission."