Canadian actress 'kidnapped' by ICE during 'routine' trip shares stark insight as to what the experience was like
American Pie Presents: The Book of Love star Jasmine Mooney has spoken out after being 'kidnapped' by the ICE for 12 days.
On March 3, the 35-year-old actor turned business consultant was stopped by US immigration officials when trying to cross the border from Mexico to the US.
She was then detained with 'no explanation' or 'warning' by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The lead up to Mooney's detainment
In a first-person piece for The Guardian, Mooney, 35, noted she was 'granted' her trade Nafta work visa on her 'second attempt' which 'allows Canadian and Mexican citizens to work in the US in specific professional occupations' and has 'no criminal record'.
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After appearing as an actor in 2009's American Pie Presents: The Book of Love, alongside several other TV shows and movies, the Canadian began working as a business consultant in California and would travel 'back and forth Canada and the US multiple times without any complications'.
After an incident at border control saw her visa revoked - questions raised over why she'd applied for it at the San Diego border despite it being where her lawyer's offices were - Mooney stayed in Canada for several months before landing a job which required her to restart the visa process.
She returned to the immigration office at the San Diego border but 'many confused opinions' about her case were raised leading to her being told to apply 'through the consulate' which Mooney noted she had 'no problem doing'.
She added: "Then [the officer] said something strange: 'You didn’t do anything wrong. You are not in trouble, you are not a criminal'."
Mooney ends up in a 'freezing cement cell'
Mooney was told she needed to be 'sent back' to Canada but despite thinking she could just book a flight home, 'a man approached' her and with 'no explanation' or 'warning' she was allegedly stripped of her belongings, told to stand with her hands against the wall, patted down and detained.
Mooney said: "One minute, I was in an immigration office talking to an officer about my work visa, which had been approved months before and allowed me, a Canadian, to work in the US. The next, I was told to put my hands against the wall, and patted down like a criminal before being sent to an Ice detention center without the chance to talk to a lawyer."
An ICE spokesperson confirmed to CBS News Mooney was detained, stating she didn't have legal documentation to be in the US.
Mooney said she ended up in 'a tiny, freezing cement cell with bright fluorescent lights and a toilet' along with five over women for 'two days, only leaving briefly for food,' only allegedly allowed a phone call on the third day and later handed 'a stack of paperwork to sign' and told she was being 'given a five-year ban unless [she] applied for re-entry through the consulate'.
'Delirious' Mooney signed the paperwork and offered to pay for her own flight home, but was ultimately moved to another cell and processed into 'real jail' transferred once more after three nights, reflecting on feeling like she was being 'kidnapped' and 'thrown into some sort of sick psychological experiment'.
Mooney was eventually told she was being released.
Mooney's experience 'not just her story'
Despite Mooney saying she 'begged every officer I saw to let [her] pay for [her] own ticket home' from the 'moment' she arrived, she said her ICE agent told her lawyer she 'could have left sooner' if she'd 'signed a withdrawal form and that they hadn’t known I would pay for my own flight home'.
Mooney was transferred back to San Diego, taken to the airport and has since been reunited with her family and friends noting it was 'surreal' hearing the lengths they'd had to go to in order to get her out - 'working with lawyers, reaching out to the media, making endless calls to detention centers, desperately trying to get through to Ice or anyone who could help'.
And this was with 'a Canadian passport, lawyers, resources, media attention, friends, family and even politicians advocating', she notes.
Mooney reflected: "Imagine what this system is like for every other person in there. [...] This is not just my story. It is the story of thousands and thousands of people still trapped in a system that profits from their suffering.
"[...] The reality became clear: Ice detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a business. These facilities are privately owned and run for profit."
An ICE spokesperson said Mooney's detainment resulted from Trump's signing of multiple executive orders, stating: "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 US regardless of nationality."
UNILAD has contacted the ICE for comment.
Topics: US News, Canada, Film and TV, Celebrity, Travel
Poppy Bilderbeck