TRAVEL

I Wrote That I Probably Won’t Visit the States Again

At least one writer assured me I’d have nothing to worry about, that my TDR was making me paranoid. That I simply “wasn’t that interesting.”

Screenshot of Karen Dawson; Guardian photo by Lydia Goldblatt

When I wrote last year that I didn’t know if I’d ever visit the States again, I wasn’t only thinking of politics. I’m 81; the journey from France to Seattle is long and wearying. Expensive too.

Politics did weigh into it a little; in a piece filled with all the reasons — friends, family, a granddaughter and great-daughter — for wanting to visit, I’d simply written: “It seems unlikely that an 81 year-old great-grandmother would represent a security risk, but who knows?”

Why would it be “risky” for you to return to the US?” someone asked. “Assuming your passport is still in order. Politics? No one is looking to cause you problems. You have fallen prey to propaganda I fear. It’s going around.”

I imagine 65 year old UK citizen Karen Newton had similar thoughts when she and her husband left their Hertfordshire home for a dream trip to the US. She was, she told the Guardian, aware that international travellers were being detained in immigration centres, “But I never thought it would have any impact on my holiday.”

She hadn’t been abroad for eight years, she said, “I really just wanted to get away from the house.” And maybe enjoy a little sunshine. She and her husband, Bill, 66, planned a two-month visit that included several western states and a foray into Canada.

All went well until nearly the end of their trip. They were trying to cross the US border into Canada, but Canadian officials told them they didn’t have the correct paperwork to bring the car with them. They were turned back to Montana on the American side — and to US border control officials. Bill’s US visa had expired; Karen’s had not.

Worried for him, she was comforted to know that her visa was still good. At least, she thought, I am here to support him. Instead, it was an ordeal that would see both of them “handcuffed, shackled and sleeping on the floor of a locked cell, before being driven for 12 hours through the night to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centre.

Even though both had been travelling with valid passports and her visa was still valid, Karen was incarcerated for a total of six weeks. A grandmother who spent eight years working as an admin assistant at a primary school before her retirement, she’d never even had a parking ticket. “I am not a dangerous criminal,” she said, “I didn’t enter the country illegally, and I had everything I needed to be there.”

She also had a hip problem, something I can relate to, and couldn’t climb to an upper bunk so had to sleep on the floor instead.

So why did ICE detain her and keep her and her husband locked up — separately — for so long? An answer they heard repeatedly was that ICE officers are paid a bonus every time they detain someone.

It’s no secret that the Trump administration has been pouring money into ICE. Its annual budget — $6bn a decade ago — is now $85bn; ICE is now the highest -funded law enforcement agency in the US. Since last August, new recruits can expect to receive a signing-on bonus of up to $50,000. Karen’s experience has left her convinced that ICE agents are being given even more incentives to arrest and detain anyone they possibly can, even blameless tourists who have all the paperwork they need to be in the US. Guardian UK.

And, no pun intended, similar stories to Karen’s may be just the tip of the iceberg. While some involve young people held on suspicion of being in the US to work without the correct visa, elderly grandparents considering a visit should perhaps think twice.

I’ll probably once again receive accusations of TDS and paranoia along with assurances that “I’m not that interesting” (Those hurt). Seriously, though, reading stories like Karen’s doesn’t do much to convince me.

“I sent a link to the article to my daughter in the US. “Don’t even think of coming,” she said. “We’ll visit you.”

(Incidentally, Karen and Bill never even got their confiscated luggage back. I bet the grandkids were disappointed.)