ICE is now the highest -funded law enforcement agency in the US... ‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks

Karen Newton: ‘I am not a dangerous criminal. I don’t even have parking tickets.’ Photograph: Lydia Goldblatt/The Guardian

 Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone’

Jenny Kleeman

Sat 21 Feb 2026 01.00 EST

When Karen Newton left home in late July 2025, she knew that international travellers were being locked up in immigration detention centres in the US. “I was aware,” she nods. “But I never thought it would have any impact on my holiday.” Karen, 65, had a British passport and a tourist visa. She hadn’t been abroad for eight years, and was keen for some guaranteed sun. “I really just wanted to get away from the house.”

She and her husband, Bill, 66, had an ambitious itinerary that would take them through California, Nevada, Wyoming, Montana and then on to Canada over two months. Las Vegas wasn’t to Karen’s taste: “Way too commercialised.” She much preferred Yellowstone, where they saw Old Faithful, the famous geyser, as it shot boiling water into the air, and got up close with some extraordinary wildlife. “There was a bison right next to the car. Another time, a wolf walked past.” Her eyes sparkle at the memory. “It was just amazing.”

The dream holiday ended abruptly on Friday 26 September, as Karen and Bill were trying to leave the US.... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/21/karen-newton-valid-visa-detained-ice 

  [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]  

The ongoing Israeli Forces operation in the West Bank must stop. Families must be able to return to their homes. Learn how #UNRWAworks... UNRWA stands ready to deliver life-saving aid as people return to their homes across Gaza following the #ceasefire... Allowing UNRWA to distribute supplies is essential to meet urgent needs and support recovery.

Operational restrictions

On 30 January 2025, anti-UNRWA laws passed by the Israeli Parliament
came into effect, hampering UNRWA’s work in the occupied Palestinian
territory, in particular East Jerusalem. As a result, the direct coordination
with the Israeli authorities came to a halt, restricting the Agency’s ability
to protect UNRWA staff and operations. All international staff had to
withdraw from their duty station in the occupied Palestinian territory due
to non-extension of visas by the Government of Israel. Regardless,
UNRWA continues its operations in the West Bank including East
Jerusalem.  https://www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/content/resources/unrwa_opt_jan-sept_2025.pdf

 

UNRWA

@UNRWA

As the largest humanitarian and development actor on the ground, UNRWA continues to serve 920,000 #Palestine Refugees in the occupied #WestBank including East Jerusalem. 

 

UNRWA is leading the emergency response to the largest displacement crisis in the West Bank since 1967, delivering healthcare, education, waste management, and cash assistance. 

 

The ongoing Israeli Forces operation in the West Bank must stop. Families must be able to return to their homes. Learn how #UNRWAworks: 

 

https://www.unrwa.org/sites/default/files/content/resources/unrwa_opt_jan-sept_2025.pdf

 

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies] 

 

UNRWA

@UNRWA

“We’ve got enough food to feed everyone in #Gaza for between two and three months, and the population is starving. We’ve got shelter items for hundreds of thousands of people, blankets for over a million people,” our Sam Rose tells @‌MiddleEastEye. 

 

UNRWA stands ready to deliver life-saving aid as people return to their homes across Gaza following the #ceasefire. 

 

Allowing UNRWA to distribute supplies is essential to meet urgent needs and support recovery...   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/more-500000-people-return-gaza-city-following-ceasefire

US visa refusal for Palestinian delegation prompts calls to move UN meeting to Geneva. General assembly session about two-state solution for Palestine and Israel due to start in New York on Tuesday

The UK, France, Australia, Canada and others are expected to recognise a Palestinian state if certain conditions are met. Photograph: Haitham Imad /EPA

The US’s refusal to grant visas to the Palestinian delegation to the UN general assembly has led to calls for a one-day conference on a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel to be moved from the UN’s headquarters in New York to its other main site in Geneva.

Donald Trump’s White House has already refused to grant a visa to the Palestinian Authority (PA) president, Mahmoud Abbas, and 80 other Palestinian officials for the general assembly session, which begins on Tuesday.

There is now speculation that, citing anti-terrorist laws, he will also ban diplomats from Brazil, Iran, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

In 1988 the US debarred the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), Yasser Arafat, from travelling to New York.

But the White House is going further than before by withholding visas from the entire travelling Palestinian delegation to probably the most important diplomatic event for Palestine since the Oslo accords – a one-day event at which the UK, France, Australia, Canada and others are expected to recognise a Palestinian state if certain conditions are met, which has infuriated Israel.

Such a blanket ban has never been attempted in the history of the UN. Per Clausen, a Danish MEP who is a member of the Left group, has called for Europe to propose a temporary transfer to Geneva “both to uphold the Palestinians’ right to be represented and to... READ MORE    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/08/us-visa-refusal-for-palestinian-delegation-prompts-calls-to-move-un-meeting-to-geneva

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]