Fantagraphics has announced it will release British cartoonist R.E. Burke‘s graphic memoir about being detained by ICE on May 11, 2027. The book, titled Visiting America: 19 Days in an I.C.E. Facility, will tell the story of how she was detained by the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in February 2025, after attempting to cross the border between Canada and Washington state, and the friendships she formed with other women detained by the group.
The press release says, “In vivid color and startling detail, Visiting America immerses readers in her experiences: her fear, despair, disorientation, and her fellow detainees’ attempt to help her acclimate. Burke documents in comics form, the difficulty of navigating a haphazard, callous bureaucracy, rife with misinformation, stonewalling, and threats. As her mental and physical conditions worsen, despite the best efforts of the women to take care of each other, a campaign to free her mounted by friends and family garners international support.”
It adds, “Visiting America is not only her own story, but the stories of the strength, spirit, and humor of the other women — mothers, daughters, workers, innocent people fleeing war, genocide, and abuse — whose situations are even more precarious and desperate. They are trapped in a cruel, horrifying, and rapidly worsening system with no place safe to return to.” The book will include an epilogue, providing updates on some of the women she was detained with.
Visiting America is 208 pages long, and will retail in paperback for $29.99 when it releases in May. In the meantime, you can check out interior pages from the book below, and stay up to date with Burke on Instagram and Substack.
