Bill and Karen Newton were arrested by ICE. Bill had a 20-year overstay, and Karen’s visa was cancelled for attempting to help an illegal alien travel to Canada. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This week, Instagram and Twitter are all abuzz with the frightening story of how ICE allegedly abused the rights of British citizens Bill and Karen Newton, who, despite being British and Caucasian, were taken into custody for no reason at all. The posts claim that Karen’s visa was valid and that she was arrested simply because ICE is a group of “Gestapo fascists.” Other claims say that Bill had a pending green card application. The consensus among commenters is that ICE should be abolished and President Trump should be impeached.
Now that I have investigated about two hundred of these cases, I have learned to read between the lines. When the posts say Karen’s visa was valid, I have to assume Bill’s was not. Any time a post claims that someone is in the process of applying for a green card, it must be remembered that applying for a green card is not, in and of itself, a residency permit. It is simply an admission that he has no green card.
Here are the facts. ICE did nothing wrong.
The story the couple told the press is that when Bill decided to retire, they planned to drive to Canada for a holiday before returning to the UK. On September 26, 2025, they attempted to cross from Montana into Canada. Canadian border officials turned them back, reportedly because they did not have the correct paperwork to bring their car into Canada.
When they were forced to return to the U.S., they were met by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Agents discovered that Bill’s U.S. visa had already expired.
Karen Newton had a valid B2 tourist visa. However, ICE agents detained her as well, telling her she was “guilty by association.” They argued that by helping her husband pack and driving him to the border, she had assisted an illegal alien, which violated the terms of her own visa.
The fact is that Bill Newton’s work visa had been expired for nearly 20 years. It is unlikely that he did not know that before attempting to drive to Canada. Furthermore, although Karen’s visa was current, DHS alleged that she had a history of overstaying a previous visa waiver by four years.
Karen’s valid visa was cancelled on the spot under a standard provision of U.S. immigration law covering “Alien Smuggling.” While most people think of “smuggling” as bringing people across a border in the dark, the legal definition in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) is much broader.
The specific clause, INA § 212(a)(6)(E), states that any person who “knowingly has encouraged, induced, assisted, abetted, or aided” another person to enter or try to enter the United States in violation of the law is inadmissible. In Karen Newton’s case, this clause was applied because she drove her husband, who had no legal status, to the border and helped him attempt to exit and potentially re-enter.
Under the “Project Homecoming” enforcement standards of 2025–2026, the government took the position that a spouse living with someone for 20 years knowingly understands that person’s lack of legal status. They eventually accepted “self-removal,” a form of voluntary deportation, and were flown back to the UK in late 2025 or early 2026.
The other case everyone is talking about and citing as evidence of President Trump’s lawlessness and disregard for court orders involves Farah, a 21-year-old gay woman from Morocco who sought asylum in the United States in early 2025 after fleeing family violence related to her sexuality.
Although her asylum claim was denied, which liberals blame on homophobia, a U.S. immigration judge issued a protection order, known as withholding of removal, in August 2025. This order legally barred the U.S. government from sending her back to Morocco, as the judge ruled that her life would be in danger there.
Angry posts on Instagram, including some from U.S. lawmakers, claim that President Trump deported her despite the judge’s protection order and that she is now in Morocco “living in fear of her life.”
Here are the facts. The exact reason why asylum was not granted has not been made public. However, if the threat comes from a victim’s family rather than from a government or organized crime, that is usually not strong enough grounds for asylum.
The judge’s order prevented deportation to Morocco. Therefore, the Trump administration deported her to a third country willing to accept her, which was Cameroon.
After arriving in Cameroon, the Trump administration was no longer involved and had no control over her movements. She apparently later self-deported to Morocco.
There are congressmen and women retweeting these stories and claiming that ICE is arresting people arbitrarily, that the agency is out of control, and that it must be stopped. Some are calling for the impeachment of Kristi Noem and President Trump, and even RFK Jr., who has nothing to do with immigration.
Meanwhile, both cases are straightforward and legally grounded. The hatred toward ICE and the anti-ICE riots are fueled by this type of half-truth and irresponsible framing, not only by elected officials but also by mainstream media.
The post More Media ICE Lies This Week – What Really Happened in Two ICE Cases appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.