British Comics Creator & Tourist Becky Burke Detained By ICE On A North American Trip

British comics creator Becky Burke has been held by ICE in a detention centre since 26th February after being stopped at the US/Canadian border…

Earlier in the week, we had news of Burke’s detention from Andy Oliver of Broken Frontier… ‘Dreadful news concerning our friend and former Broken Frontier teammate Becky Burke who many of you will know as a much respected part of our comics community. Whatever you can do to help spread awareness of Becky’s plight right now will no doubt be appreciated.’ Andy has also posted this piece at Broken Frontier with more details.

That dreadful thing is detailed in full here, posted by her father, Paul Burke.

But in summary, comic artist Becky Burke (also known as R.E. Burke) has been on a four-month backpacking trip across the USA and Canada. She’s been detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since late February. She attempted to cross the Canadian border, was denied entry due to an incorrect visa, and, when returning to the US, was refused entry and classed as an ‘illegal alien.’ She was handcuffed and taken to a detention facility in Tacoma, Washington, where she’s waiting to be allowed to leave the US and come home, in awful conditions. Her parents and friends are doing all they can, but there’s also been plenty of media coverage, including the BBC and the Guardian.

Burke arrived in the US in January and had spent two months travelling, staying with families in the country in return for looking after the house and doing chores, a familiar route for many young people visiting abroad on a budget, and one arranged through a cultural exchange co-ordination website. The problems appear to have started when Burke attempted to cross from the US to Canada, where the arrangement came to light and border officials classified her boarding arrangements as amounting to work. Found in violation of her visa, she was returned to the US, where she was then detained by ICE and placed in a detention centre since February.

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to get Becky a lawyer to help secure her swift release, get her a flight home, and help finance other costs.

It’s a terrible situation and one we hope is resolved as soon as possible. Whatever the rights and wrongs of things regarding whether this sort of arrangement can be classed as work, it does highlight how the ICE crackdowns in the USA have become more and more draconian since the new regime took over. It’s a familiar method of assisting young travellers that’s been used by generations and this just smacks of an extreme over-reaction.

It does also bring up the possibility of other comics creators travelling to the US for conventions and events failing foul of visa rules. If chores for board and lodgings can be considered work, convention appearances and selling art could certainly be covered by this. I’m sure a lot of creators will go the route of getting a work-related visa for conventions, but I’m just as sure that many wouldn’t and would have travelled into the US under a tourist visa.

Becky Burke/R. E. Burke is an artist and comic creator from Monmouthshire, Wales. Based in London, she’s been working on her art and comics since finishing her studies at Bristol University. She’s published several of her own comics and an anthology, been featured in other comics anthologies, as well as writing for Broken Frontier as Rebecca Burke between 2020 and 2023.