SAN DIEGO, CA – A 26-year-old German tattoo artist is trapped in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center after being denied entry at the San Diego border last month, sparking outrage and calls for her release. Jessica Brösche, who attempted to cross from Tijuana, Mexico, with her American friend, Amelia Lofving, on January 25th, remains detained at the Otay Mesa detention center.
Brösche, carrying her German passport, visa waiver confirmation, and a return ticket to Berlin, was pulled aside for secondary inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. According to KPBS, CBP accused her of intending to work illegally as a tattoo artist during her planned stay in Los Angeles, due to the presence of tattoo equipment in her luggage.
“I just want to get home, you know? I’m really desperate,” Brösche told ABC 10News in a phone interview from the detention facility.
Lofving, who had recently moved to Los Angeles, met Brösche in Tijuana with plans to travel together. However, Brösche’s journey ended at the border. She was initially held in a cell at the San Diego border before being transferred to ICE custody.
Adding to the distress, Brösche reportedly spent eight days in solitary confinement, an experience Lofving described as a “horror movie.” “She says it was like a horror movie. They were screaming in all different rooms. After nine days, she said she went so insane that she started punching the walls and then she’s got blood on her knuckles,” Lofving said.
Lofving expressed frustration with ICE, stating that her requests to have Brösche sent back to Mexico were denied due to her lack of legal residency there, and that her only option was deportation back to Germany. She also sought assistance from the German consulate in Los Angeles.
For 25 days, Lofving was unable to locate Brösche, fearing she had already been deported. She eventually located her friend using the federal Detainee Locator website.
Brösche remains detained at Otay Mesa, with her future uncertain.
