Canadian ‘American Pie’ Actress Detained by ICE and Held for 12 Days: ‘I Was Literally Just Taken’
Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian actress and entrepreneur who appeared in an “American Pie” movie and “iZombie,” said, “I feel like I’ve been kidnapped,” after being detained by ICE at the Mexican border and held in custody for 12 days.
Mooney, who was allowed to return to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Saturday, spoke to Canadian news outlet CTV News from an Arizona detention center before her release, “Without any warning about what was about to transpire, I was literally just taken. I feel like I’ve been kidnapped… All my stuff was taken from me and I was put in a jail cell.”
She later told San Diego station KGTV, “I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane,” saying that she and other female detainees had “up for 24 hours wrapped in chains.”
When she arrived in Vancouver, she told the waiting press, “I’m still, to be honest, really processing everything. I haven’t slept in a while and haven’t eaten proper food in a while, so I’m just really going through the motions.”
Her mother, Alexis Eagles, first took to Facebook on Wednesday to highlight her daughter’s case. She said that Mooney was among 30 people who were “forcibly removed from their cells at 3:00 am and transferred to San Luis Detention Center in Arizona” and that the detainees were in “a single concrete cell with no natural light, fluorescent lights that are never turned off, no mats, no blankets, and limited bathroom facilities.”
Eagles said that Mooney, who recently appeared on a TV show to pitch her product, “Holy Water,” was trying to renew her work visa on March 3. She had a job offer from a U.S. company and her visa paperwork, her mother said. Eagles also told CTV News that Mooney is a “Canadian citizen with a valid passport.”
An ICE spokesperson said via statement that Mooney did not have legal documentation to be in the U.S. and that she had been processed in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders.
“All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the U.S., regardless of nationality,” the spokesperson said in the statement.
Speaking to CTV after her release, Mooney said, “I still don’t even know how I’m home. My friends and my family and the media are the reason, I think, that I’m home.” She said she was never received an explanation for her detention and that she was never charged with a crime.
The incident comes at a tense time between the two nations as Trump continues to speak about Canada becoming the 51st state and a tariff trade war begun by Trump’s executive orders against the longtime American ally.
Kirsten Hillman, Canadian ambassador to the U.S., said on Sunday, “We take seriously our sovereignty. We take seriously the will of Canadians, and over 91 percent of Canadians are not interested in a discussion around joining the U.S.,” The Hill reported.
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