British tourist issues terrifying warning about visiting the US after being ‘shackled’ and ‘held for weeks’

A British grandmother who was detained by ICE for a month and a half while she was on the holiday of a lifetime across North America has issued a chilling warning to anyone considering traveling to the US.

65-year-old Karen Newton set off from the UK with her husband Bill in July 2025, their first foreign holiday in years. With a multi-month plan to experience some Americana, visiting California, Nevada, Wyoming, and Montana before heading to Canada.

After having the time of their lives, though admittedly to preferring the majesty of Yellowstone to the 'commercialized' Vegas strip, it was at the Canadian border on September 26 that everything started to go wrong. First, they were told they did not have the right permit to take a vehicle with them.

When they were returned to the US side, border officials found that Bill's work visa had expired. Even though Karen's travel visa was still valid and they offered to pay for their own flight home, she told the Guardian that the officers 'weren't interested.'

The couple were arrested after being turned back at the Canada border in Montana (William Campbell-Corbis via Getty Images)

In short order, the older couple had their luggage taken from them as they began a 42 day immigration detention journey that would see Karen shackled and driven for 12 hours in a 'prison van' through the night to an ICE detention center.

Throughout the early parts of this process, where Karen was denied a lawyer due to being detained rather than arrested, the Brit thought she would be released once she told officials that she had a valid visa and had done nothing wrong.

She shared “I just thought, ‘When they listen to me, when they come to their senses, they are going to let me go.’ I thought they might escort me to the airport and put us on a plane – hopefully both of us. But that didn’t happen.”

Instead, Karen says she was held due to 'guilt by association' as her partner's valid work visa had just expired, which was the reason he had been attempting to leave the US in the first place.

The grandma added: “It just went from crazy to ridiculous. It felt like they just wanted an excuse to detain me.”

While in the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Karen frequently heard claims that ICE agents were being awarded bonuses per person they detained, which she believed could have been why she was detained along with her husband.

Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, where Karen and Bill were held (David Ryder/Getty Images)

A statement from ICE given to the publication reads: "Bonuses for ICE officers are not based on arrest or detention numbers. Pay and bonuses for ICE officers are administered in accordance with office of personnel management policy.

"ICE officers risk their own safety day in and day out because they took an oath to enforce the nation’s immigration laws, not to make large sums of money."

For the next several weeks in Tacoma, Karen was separated from Bill and placed in a large communal cell for female detainees. There, she was forced to sleep on the floor as her age prevented her from climbing.

Attempts to contact the British Consulate were largely fruitless and when an official did get back to her, it was clear there was nothing they could do to get their citizens out of ICE custody.

Then, on November 6, she was finally released from her cell and put on a flight home with Bill. After their months-long trip and ordeal in a detention center, they had none of their luggage returned to them and came home to piles of unpaid bills.

The British tourist's terrifying ordeal while attempting to travel through the US has led Karen to warn other holidaymakers against visiting America, especially while Donald Trump is in office.

She told the Guardian: "Don’t go – not with Trump in charge. It’s totally out of control over there. There’s no accountability. They don’t seem to need a reason for detaining you."

ICE and the UK Foreign Office have been approached for comment.