logo
Canadian Who Was in an ‘American Pie' Video Says ICE Held Her for 12 Days

Canadian Who Was in an ‘American Pie' Video Says ICE Held Her for 12 Days

New York Times18-03-2025

When Jasmine Mooney brought her visa application earlier this month to the San Ysidro, Calif., border crossing, the busiest in the United States, the former actress said, she was prepared to be turned away.
At worst, as she put it, she would have to pay for a flight home to Vancouver.
But Ms. Mooney, 35, a Canadian national who appeared in 'American Pie Presents: The Book of Love,' a direct-to-video spinoff of the teen movie series, said that turned out to be the least of her worries after immigration officers on the U.S.-Mexico border flagged her work permit paperwork. They told her that she was in the wrong place, she said, and that she should have gone to a U.S. consulate instead.
Ms. Mooney, who had been offered a marketing job with a U.S.-based health and wellness startup, said that what happened next had blindsided her. She said that she had been led to another room, the start of a 12-day-long plight of being detained by Immigrations and Custom Enforcement.
'They say, 'Hands on the wall,'' Ms. Mooney told The New York Times on Monday.
Her ordeal bore similarity to several other seemingly unexplained detentions at the border, which have grabbed headlines and put people like Ms. Mooney into a legal purgatory of an ever-changing immigration system under the Trump administration.
For the next two days, she said, she was confined to a small cell at the border station, where she was given a mat and a mylar blanket for sleeping. She said she had tried to reason with an immigration enforcement officer, to no avail, and had been transferred to an ICE detention center near San Diego in a jumpsuit and shackles.
'I'm not trying to be here illegally,' Ms. Mooney said she told the officer. 'I just want to go home.'
As she was loaded into a prisoner van, she said, the reality of her situation sank in.
'They put you in chains,' she said. 'That's when I realized they are onboarding me into a real prison.'
ICE officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday. Neither did the White House, which has made President Trump's executive orders governing immigration a centerpiece of his return to power.
Ms. Mooney was applying for a TN visa, which allows professionals from Canada and Mexico to stay temporarily in the United States. She initially applied for one last year for her other marketing job, but she said that it had been rejected because the company's letterhead was missing from her documents.
She said she had successfully reapplied about a month later at the San Ysidro border crossing, but when she tried to return to the United States at the end of November, a U.S. immigration official at the airport in Vancouver revoked her visa. He explained that her application had not been processed properly, she said, and raised concerns over one company that was employing her that sold hemp-based products.
Ms. Mooney said it was not uncommon for people like her who work in Southern California to apply for visas at the San Ysidro border station, so earlier this month, she figured she would try again.
Leonard D.M. Saunders, an immigration lawyer from Blaine, Wash., just south of the U.S. border with Canada, said Ms. Mooney's plan had given him pause when she discussed it with him. Ms. Mooney's roommate is one of his clients. He said that a number of his clients had their visas processed at the San Ysidro border station in the past without problems, but that he was concerned that Ms. Mooney might get stuck in Mexico.
'You hear all this stuff with these Columbia students being detained,' Mr. Saunders said. 'What was different? The new political climate. I hate to say it.'
Ms. Mooney's case does not appear to be isolated. On March 7, a German national with a green card was arrested at Logan International Airport in Boston and was being detained, The Boston Globe reported.
At the same border crossing where Ms. Mooney tried to enter the country, two German tourists were detained for weeks and eventually deported.
Six days into her ordeal, Ms. Mooney said, she and a group of other detainees were awakened at 3 a.m. and were told they were being transferred to another ICE prison in Arizona, a five-hour drive. Detainees were shackled, fingerprinted and asked a series of questions about whether they had been sexually assaulted or had attempted suicide, according to Ms. Mooney, who said she and the other women had been required to take pregnancy tests.
'We had to pee in open Dixie cups in the cell, and the bathrooms are open,' she said.
While she was being held by ICE, Ms. Mooney discussed her detention with the San Diego television station KGTV, which she said had drawn widespread attention to her situation.
'Why would they waste their time on a Canadian citizen who is at the border trying to do everything right?' Mr. Saunders said. 'It's not like she's going through the desert illegally.'
David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, Ms. Mooney's home province, criticized her detention on Thursday when the media outlet CityNews asked him about it. He said that it had exacerbated the anxieties of Canadians.
'What about our relatives who are working in the States?' Mr. Eby said. 'What about when we cross the border? What kind of an experience are we going to have? The harm that this does to the U.S. economy through impacted tourism, impacted business relationships, impacted people who are seeking visas to work in the United States who have special skills that they can't get anywhere else: It is reckless, the approach of the president. And this woman should be brought back to Canada as quickly as possible.'
After 12 days of being held, Ms. Mooney said, she was finally driven on Friday to San Diego International Airport and escorted onto an Air Canada flight to Vancouver. Her roommate, who paid $1,100 for her ticket, was waiting for her when she landed, along with her mother. Ms. Mooney is barred from returning to the United States for five years, but she said she plans to appeal.
'I love America,' she said. 'I love my friends there. I love the life I was building there and the opportunities.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Rally outside CBP office in Detroit condemns Trump's mass deportations
Rally outside CBP office in Detroit condemns Trump's mass deportations

Yahoo

time32 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Rally outside CBP office in Detroit condemns Trump's mass deportations

A small but vocal group of demonstrators rallied Wednesday, June 11, outside the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office on Michigan Avenue in Detroit to oppose ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and deportations, as large-scale protests unfold in Los Angeles. Organized by BAMN — the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary — the rally aimed to spotlight what activists describe as a coordinated assault on immigrant communities. "We're here to stand in solidarity with our fellow organizers and everybody in LA who's standing up. That's what we need to do in every city across the country to stop (President Donald) Trump's ethnic cleansing plan," said Nicole Conaway of Detroit, a BAMN organizer for the past 15 years. Earlier in the day, protesters also demonstrated in front of the Patrick V. McNamara Federal Building in downtown Detroit, down the block from where the evening protest was held. According to activists, five or six individuals — most of them believed to be Venezuelan — were detained after their immigration cases were dismissed in court, a practice that immigrant advocates say is becoming increasingly common. "That's happening more and more. Regardless of the outcome, people have been snatched up straight out of court — and we've known people that this has happened to," said Kate Stenvig, another BAMN organizer and Detroit resident. A spokesman for ICE did not comment specifically on the alleged arrests in Detroit, but said that ICE officers are permitted 'to conduct civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present at a specific location, and where such action is not precluded by laws imposed by the jurisdiction in which the enforcement action will take place.' The local protests come amid escalating tensions in Los Angeles, where Trump has deployed hundreds of National Guard troops to respond to public demonstrations against his administration's immigration crackdowns. State and city leaders have said the move has only heightened unrest. 'Trump is not just deporting criminals. He is just deporting anyone who's Black and Brown, pretty much,' Conaway said. 'It's a racist, white supremacist, fascist regime, and the way to stop it is mass collective organizing and mass action like we're seeing in LA right now.' More: ICE denies Detroit high school student's request to stay in U.S. until graduation Though Wednesday's rally in Detroit drew approximately 20 participants, it also drew support from passersby. Drivers honked their horns, and a group riding on The Michigan Pedaler cheered in solidarity. Protesters held signs reading, 'Defend your neighbors against ICE' and 'Immigrants make America Great,' while chanting, 'LA has shown the way, immigrants are here to stay.' In addition to street activism, BAMN also operates a legal wing that represents families facing deportation. Conaway said she's seen firsthand how families have been torn apart at the office they were protesting outside of. More: More foreign students in Michigan targeted for deportation, including 22 at U-M 'One of our legal clients went in for a check-in right here, to this building (on Michigan Avenue), and never came out. They were detained there,' she said. Conaway added that she believes what's at stake goes beyond immigration policy. 'If Trump can win this battle, then we're further down the road to fascism and him being a dictator and not leaving the White House without force,' she said. More: Detroit criminal deportation cases skyrocket in Trump's first 100 days A spokesman for ICE did not comment specifically on the alleged arrests in Detroit, but said that ICE officers are permitted 'to conduct civil immigration enforcement actions in or near courthouses when they have credible information that leads them to believe the targeted alien(s) is or will be present at a specific location, and where such action is not precluded by laws imposed by the jurisdiction in which the enforcement action will take place.' Several protests against ICE and Trump's immigration policies are planned throughout the country for Saturday, June 14 — the president's birthday. Organizers said BAMN, along with other activist groups, will lead a march beginning at 1 p.m. at Clark Park in Detroit. Free Press reporter Niraj Warikoo contributed to this report. Nour Rahal is a trending and breaking news reporter. Email her: nrahal@ Follow her on Twitter @nrahal1. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit activists protest ICE, show solidarity with LA demonstrations

Activist arrested at Monday night protest says she's ready for Saturday event
Activist arrested at Monday night protest says she's ready for Saturday event

Yahoo

time32 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Activist arrested at Monday night protest says she's ready for Saturday event

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Alexandra Haddix left jail Tuesday after Austin Police arrested her during an anti-ICE protest Monday night. 'I was tear-gassed while being pulled out of a car,' Haddix said. Despite her time in custody, she's fired up to continue protesting. She's ready for another protest on Saturday that she helped organize. It's part of a national day of protests called, 'No Kings Day,' with large crowds expected to turn out in protest of the Trump administration. 'No Kings' protest organizer calls Texas National Guard deployment an overreaction by Governor 'I just think that it's going to be so funny seeing the dichotomy between our jubilee protests and the National Guard holding their massive guns,' Haddix said. Haddix is a part of the group called the 50501 Movement. She said members of the group go through protest training and have planned seminars to educate people on protest safety. According to Haddix, there will be a seminar before Saturday's protest. 'We are going to have another seminar for crowd control for the organizers and people in charge,' Haddix said. 'We also will have a de-escalation seminar.' Haddix criticized the way police handled the Monday protest, which was organized by another group. However, she said her organization will encourage peaceful protest. 'Do I understand why we have police? Yes. Do I feel like they maybe are overstepping? Absolutely,' Haddix said. 'The safety of the people at our protest is our number one concern, and if that requires me to work a little bit with the police, then that is what I'm going to do.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

See the sights and sounds around Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Pacers Game 3
See the sights and sounds around Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Pacers Game 3

Indianapolis Star

time32 minutes ago

  • Indianapolis Star

See the sights and sounds around Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Pacers Game 3

Fans and people protesting ICE raids brought thousands to Downtown Indianapolis on Wednesday night. Here's what it looked and sounded like. Madyson Crane Security for NBA finals are top priority for city and Pacers officials Woman who accused Hogsett aide of sexual harassment removed from meeting 'What's going to happen to my family?' asks Afghanistan refugee Indy FOP president Rick Snyder goes off on Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store