Tourists A British backpacker. A Harvard researcher. A Canadian actress. An Australian MMA coach. Dozens of international college students.
The Trump administration’s broad immigration and visa crackdown is increasingly targeting individuals who were once routinely welcomed into the United States.
Tourists Now, these unexpected detainees are casting a spotlight on the often harsh realities of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention system—where individuals can be held indefinitely without charges, sometimes in alarming conditions, or suddenly deported without warning.
Tourists Such treatment has long been a reality in ICE detention, but those affected often lacked the resources—such as access, language skills, or the expectations of the middle class—to speak out against the conditions.
Tourists Now, under President Donald Trump’s crackdown, native English speakers, PhD holders, and others are raising awareness about a system they describe as arbitrary and punitive—despite ICE detention not being intended to resemble a prison.
“It’s insane how easily someone can strip you of your freedom, lock you up in a federal prison, without any clear reason.
Like other detained travelers, Subotic said he was attempting to enter the U.S. with a valid visa when customs officers identified a paperwork issue. Instead of being denied entry and sent back home, he was taken to a chaotic federal detention center for 24 hours.
Trump campaigned on implementing stricter immigration enforcement, focusing especially on violent offenders living illegally in the U.S. However, the crackdown has also ensnared ordinary foreign travelers and tourists, leading to detention for offenses that would have once resulted in little more than a stern warning or a $500 fine.
“I believe in following the rules, but imprisoning someone over a small mistake in a visa application?” Subotic wrote in his post. Something needs to change regarding how I was treated.
Not Meant to Be Punitive
However, conditions within ICE’s extensive detention network—which includes both government-run and contracted facilities—can vary significantly, according to Deb Fleischaker, a former ICE official who served under both the Biden and first Trump administrations.
When the system becomes overcrowded, conditions tend to worsen, Fleischaker said. According to ICE data, nearly 48,000 people were in detention as of early April, exceeding the 41,500 immigration detention beds that Congress funded for a daily average last year.
“Clearly, things deteriorate when the system is overloaded, and ICE contractors are overwhelmed and overworked,” Fleischaker explained. She added that in the past, internal review systems were able to identify and address such issues.
Detention or ‘Kidnapping’?
Canadian entrepreneur-turned-actress Jasmine Mooney recounted an experience similar to Subotic’s, though far more prolonged. At the Mexican border, as she had done many times before, she was moved from facility to facility.
Mooney wrote that ICE officials left her shivering in cold rooms while she tried to comprehend the reasons behind her detention.
“One minute, I was in an immigration office discussing my work visa, which had been approved months earlier and allowed me, as a Canadian, to work in the U.S.,” she wrote. “The next, I was told to place my hands against the wall, patted down like a criminal, and sent to an ICE detention center without being given the opportunity to speak with a lawyer.”
Mooney said she was one of 140 women held in her dormitory, many of whom had overstayed their visas after working in the U.S. for years and attempting to legalize their status, only to be denied.
“If someone is a criminal, I agree they shouldn’t be on the streets,” she wrote. Their frustration wasn’t about facing consequences; it was about being stuck in endless bureaucratic limbo.”
British backpacker Rebecca Burke was detained by ICE for 19 days after doing light chores for her U.S. host family. Officials claimed she should have applied for a work visa instead of a tourist visa, despite having entered the country under similar circumstances before.
Burke recounted being handcuffed, shackled, having her shoelaces cut off, and learning that the ICE agent assigned to her case had gone on vacation while she remained detained in a facility with around 100 other women.
Meanwhile, Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova has been in ICE detention for over seven weeks—with no release date in sight.
The Russian-born researcher was returning to Boston Logan International Airport from Paris in February, carrying specimens for her lab’s genetics research. She arrived on a valid J1 work-study visa, was in good standing, and had never violated U.S. immigration laws.
But in Petrova’s case, her visa was revoked. ICE transferred her to a privately operated detention facility in Louisiana and has since refused to release her or permit her return to Europe.
Petrova said she informed CBP officers that she feared returning to Russia due to her pro-Ukrainian political activism.
‘Immigration Enforcement on Steroids’
Veteran immigration attorney Len Saunders, who practices near the Canadian border in Blaine, Washington, described the Trump administration’s approach as “scorched earth.” He noted that border and customs agents have traditionally had the discretion to admit travelers with minor paperwork issues, often offering a grace period to resolve them.