"The new normal": As Trump pursues mass deportations, tourists land in ICE detention

A number of tourists from European countries have been detained by ICE in recent weeks when attempting to enter the United States, their planned vacations instead turning into long stretches in detention. Rebecca Burke told the BBC she spent some six hours at the border waiting as officials debated whether her arrangement counted as work, and they ultimately decided she had "violated" her visa. In Burke and Brösche's cases, immigration authorities likely considered their accomodation arrangement or reason for entry were a "kind of work" and determined they both violated their visas. In Sielaff's case, officials likely assumed he did not have a "bona fide, non-immigrant intent" — a foreign residence he doesn't intend to abandon, per the regulations governing tourist and visa waivers — because of his incorrect answer, Jeff Joseph, the president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyer's Association, told Salon. We need your help to stay independent Subscribe today to support Salon's progressive journalism In a statement to ABC 10News San Diego earlier this month, a CBP spokesman said that if a foreign national denied admission to the U.S. is not able to book travel to their home country, "he or she will be turned over to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement."