Karen Newton, 65, from Hertfordshire in England, left home in late July 2025 for the road trip of a lifetime through the United States with her husband Bill. Valid passports. Valid visas. Weeks on the road through California, Nevada, Wyoming and Montana. Then they tried to cross into Canada and things fell apart. Canadian officials said Bill didn’t have the right paperwork to bring the car across the border. When the couple turned back to the American side, U.S. border agents found that Bill’s visa had expired. 
Karen’s tourist visa was valid. Her British passport was valid. She has no criminal record. None of it mattered. She was handcuffed, shackled, and spent the night sleeping on the floor of a locked cell before being driven 12 hours through the night to an ICE detention centre. She and her husband spent the next six weeks there. 
She is now warning anyone planning to visit the United States that the situation is “totally out of control” and advises people not to go while Donald Trump is in office. 
A British grandmother. A valid visa. Six weeks in chains.