On January 25, 29-year-old Berliner Jessica Lia Brösche was doing what many Germans do when winter hits – she was going somewhere warm. The trip involved a month in Mexico, then a few weeks in Los Angeles, where the friend with whom she was travelling lives. But when Brösche tried to cross into the United States at the border in San Diego, she was stopped by US Customs and Border Protection. Despite having a valid Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), she was detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center for more than six weeks – and spent nine of those days in solitary confinement, alone in a cold, claustrophobic box.
The media attention on Brösche’s case was swift. Since Donald Trump took office – five days before her detention – there have been multiple high-profile cases of tourists stopped at the US border, held for weeks at a time before being allowed to fly home at their own expense. Another German, 25-year-old Saxony-Anhalt resident Lucas Sielaff, was detained for 16 days while on a trip to visit his girlfriend. Meanwhile, the US government is systematically threatening and deporting residents by the tens of thousands. In Germany, the new CDU-SPD coalition has promised harsher migration policies and deportations for people they deem dangerous.
Now, Brösche is finally home (though not before strikes at BER reportedly cancelled her first flight back), much of the international attention has died down, and she’s left to resume her life in Berlin. Originally from Heilbronn, she spent her teenage years in Uruguay and then moved to Berlin at the age of 19. She’s a well-known tattoo artist with almost 25,000 followers on Instagram, whose style of “abstract calligraphy, neotribal, geometrical forms and organic shapes” is influenced by the artists she’s met at Der Grimm, where she’s worked for four years. She likes the city’s lost places, its easy-to-visit history.
If you live in Berlin, you hear often about borders; about walls, checkpoints, imprisonment. For many of us, those things remain a part of Berlin’s easy-to-visit history. For Jessica Brösche, her ordeal has made them all too real.
Tell me a little bit about your travel plans before you were detained. When did you start planning the trip, what was on the itinerary?
I started planning the trip in the summer, when my friend Nikita was visiting Berlin. We came up with the idea to meet again at the end of the year. This time in the US, as she just moved to LA. I’ve never been to LA, so I was super excited about the idea to visit her.
The water from the cell tasted disgusting, like dirty tubes and metal.
Had you ever been to the US before?
I have been one time, for my 27th birthday, which I spent in Chicago. Before Chicago, I went to visit NYC. It was always a dream to see all the places I saw in the movies in real life. I really enjoyed that time, I have to say.
What did you do in Mexico while you were there?
I spent one month in Mexico, visiting friends and joining an artist collective there. I took sewing classes and serigraphy classes and learned how to use the airbrush. I always go there to pass the German winter … I am not a big fan of the cold and grey weather. So if I can, I always travel somewhere.
Do you remember what you were wearing the day you tried to get into the US?
I was wearing normal blue jeans, a black hoodie and a black bomber jacket. They let me change clothes to something more comfortable and warm, as they said I would need it. But after that they didn’t let me change anymore. Even if I requested it many times.
Being detained must have been really confusing and distressing. How long did it take to figure out what was going on?
So basically, when we passed the Border Control they separated us and asked me to come with them to a room where they were going to ask me a couple of questions. After that they said my visa has been cancelled and I can’t get in the US this time. I got to another room where I had an interview and they took my fingerprints and photos of my face. And then they brought me “downstairs” until I [could] get my flight back to Germany. “Downstairs” was the cell where I was in solitary confinement for nine days. It took me some days to understand that it wasn’t that easy to get my ticket back, as there was no cooperation in helping me or letting me call someone who could get the ticket for me. You don’t have access to your phone or the internet in that cell.
Yeah, I don’t think I have any of my family’s phone numbers memorised…
Yes, it was super hard in the beginning to contact anyone when I was at the border, even if I knew the number of the house of my parents and my mom’s cellphone number. They gave me one call in the beginning, but it was late night in Germany, so I told them there was not really a chance someone would pick up. After that they didn’t give me any possibility to make another call, even if I repeatedly requested it.
Solitary confinement was the roughest experience from the whole time… prison was much easier
The media reported that you were detained because officials claimed you were going to use your tattoo equipment to work while in the country. Was that the reason they gave you?
First they said it was because I am a tattoo artist, and I could have come with the intention to work, then they said it was because last time I was an overstay, which I actually wasn’t, because I was in the US less than 90 days. Then they brought me a paper where it said something different. It said something about how I was refusing to show them my documents, so basically I tried to enter illegally – which wasn’t true either. I am still confused about the exact reason. Also, the other tourists who have been detained weren’t artists, so I believe it was not the final reason.
Can you describe where you were held? What were the conditions like?
I was held in a small cell at Border Control, which was a 2.5 x 3 metre square, white walls, a metal bench and a metal toilet. No furniture, just a mat on the floor to sleep. It was clean, yes, but very cold. The food they gave you wasn’t gourmet, but you get used to it. But [it was] way less than I eat in normal life. I drank a lot of water to not get hungry. The water from the cell tasted disgusting, like dirty tubes and metal.
This is a weird question, so you don’t have to answer it if you don’t feel comfortable. You were detained for more than six weeks. If you need them, does ICE provide good menstrual products for people?
They give you sanitary pads and enough hygienical products to survive, let’s say.
Were you able to meet any of the other detainees or talk to them? Where were most people from?
At first I was alone in the cell, and when we could come to have dinner outside we weren’t allowed to talk to each other. Later, in prison, I met other detainees, and even made friends who supported me, and me them. They were people from so many different countries around the world. Most of them were waiting for political asylum.
At some moments I had a headache or I was sweating, then feeling cold, desperate or even panicked. I felt like I didn’t get enough air
What was the darkest moment of the experience? Did anything lift your spirits while you were waiting?
Being in solitary confinement was the roughest experience from the whole time being detained. Being in prison was much easier compared to that. I have never been closed up, alone in such a small space for so long without talking to anyone. [Technically] you’re only allowed to be like that for three days maximum, and in my case it got extended to nine days. Other cases, even longer. I know people who were in solitary for 25 days. At some moments I had a headache or I was sweating, then feeling cold, desperate or even panicked. I felt like I didn’t get enough air sometimes, even if there was an air conditioner throwing constant air in the cell. It’s normal after so long, developing claustrophobia, even if I never had had it before. What helped me a lot was to think about my family and friends, and all the good memories I’ve had in the past. It gave me strength and made me feel calmer when I felt unwell.
Several media outlets reported that a prison psychologist offered to prescribe you anti-psychotic medicine, and that you refused…
There is a lot of fake information going on which I don’t have any idea how it ended up there, when I never spoke to those media accounts [about] being detained. The psychologist who was seeing me was a super empathic woman who was helping me in this mentally difficult situation. She never offered me any medicine, instead was listening and helping me to keep positive and strong when I was in a weak mental state after being in solitary confinement.
Tell me about being released. How did it finally happen?
It happened all of the sudden, when two officers came to the pod and said they were trying to help me to leave as soon as possible, as my ICE officer wasn’t really advancing with the case, even when I mentioned to him many times that I was just waiting for the permission to buy my flight back. I think honestly it just happened because this case got so much media attention.
I should never have been detained for so much time. It really shows that ICE detains people but then doesn’t really advance with their cases, and that’s why people are detained for so long.
How was the flight home?
It was a direct flight from Lufthansa. When they gave me the okay to fly back, my parents helped me to book the ticket as I wasn’t able to do it myself. The flight was super comfortable. The staff of Lufthansa knew what situation I’d been through and were super friendly and caring that I had everything I needed to feel comfortable.
What is it like to be back in Berlin?
It’s the most relieving to be back, and I am super grateful to be free finally. But still there are so many things I need to take care of, and it takes time to process such an extreme experience.
What was the first thing you ate when you got back?
Honestly, I couldn’t even wait to get home to eat (laughs). I ate a whole pizza at the airport. With the other detainees we were constantly speaking about things we miss, and food has been a big topic.
Are there any questions you’re sick of answering, or anything you wish people would ask you?
It’s tiring to get over and over the same story or get asked the same questions every day. Mostly because I also don’t even know how to answer some of them, like “What was the reason [you] got detained?” But also there is a lot of fake information going around, which I am willing to clear up. Also, reading all the comments [on] Instagram posts can be energy-taking. That’s why I’ve avoided it ‘til now.
You’re one of at least two Germans to be detained this year at the US-Mexico border, and Germany recently updated its travel guidance for the US. Do you think warning people is enough? Should something else be done?
I know there are many more cases of people that went through a similar situation. It’s also not about Germans being detained. It should not matter where we are born. No one should be put in prison or detained for trying to travel in a country. For me it is acceptable at a border if they refuse me, but it is not acceptable to detain me for so long and not give me the chance to return where I came from, taking my freedom. [The] warning is a beginning, that’s why I am speaking out. The next step would be to protect people with correct civil rights, and make them be aware of their rights. It would also help to put controls on the borders so that they don’t detain people [for] more time than they are allowed to.
Would you ever go back to the US?
Nope, I definitely don’t want to be traveling to the US again. Maybe when the whole situation changes I will.
Last month, Germany said it was going to deport four Berlin activists – US, Polish and Irish citizens – who have been involved in protests about Gaza. It looks to some people like Germany beginning to use the same targeting tactics that the US is, detaining and deporting people even when they have the legal right to be here. Do you think governments should be allowed to restrict movement or deport non-citizens like this?
I don’t really know about these cases, so I feel I cannot give my opinion without having any further information about why these people are getting deported by Germany. I just want to speak about my case and the cases I know about. But definitely for me it is NOT okay to detain innocent people in prisons. Also deporting non-citizens just because they are not born in a country or looking for political asylum, it’s not correct. Let’s be honest, even the people who are in favour of these new deportation rules, don’t they have family members who once immigrated? But sure, when it comes to their own family or friends, things change…
You have some name recognition now. How is that affecting your life and your work?
It feels unreal that so many people know my face or my story. I never imagined that it would be like that. Sure I would love to get back to my life and fully invest my time and energy in my work and art. But I know now I have to prioritise myself and help others.
Is there any final message you want to get out to people after your experience?
There is a lot of injustice happening right now all over the world. Let’s be loud about it, let’s try to make change. People think that only society can change something, but let’s be aware we are society.
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
