British tourist detained in US after visa mix-up returns to UK – reports | US immigration

A British woman detained in the US for three weeks because of a visa mix-up has reportedly arrived back in the UK.

Sky News broadcast images of Rebecca Burke, 28, a graphic artist from Monmouthshire, being welcomed at Heathrow airport by a loved one. Her return to the UK comes after her family confirmed she had been released from a immigration detention centre.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: “We supported a British national who was detained in the USA and were in contact with the local authorities.”

Burke was trying to cross into the US state of Washington from Canada when she was refused entry. Canadian authorities told her to go back to the US and fill in new paperwork before returning.

However, when she tried to re-enter the US, she was handcuffed and put in a cell before being taken to the Tacoma Northwest detention facility.

Her father, Paul Burke, previously said she was being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “in horrendous conditions” and had not had access to legal representation.

Speaking on Tuesday, Burke said she left the detention centre yesterday afternoon.

She had been planning to stay with a host family where she would carry out domestic chores in exchange for accommodation, and was told she should have applied for a working visa instead of a tourist visa.

She had previously been staying with a host family in Portland, Oregon under a similar arrangement after spending time sightseeing in New York City, where she first arrived from the UK at the start of the year.

The family raised nearly £10,000 online to contribute towards her legal fees, living costs and return flight home, and have promised to donate any surplus to charities in Seattle supporting individuals in similar situations.