American Pie Presents: The Book of Love star Jasmine Mooney has been detained by ICE — and NOBODY knows why!
The actress called KGTV on Tuesday from inside the San Luis Regional Detention Center in Arizona to share about her ongoing ordeal, and it’s super scary.
According to the 35-year-old, she was living in LA but had gone home to Vancouver for a visit in November when her three-year work visa was revoked. She was told she “was unprofessional because I didn’t have a proper letterhead on my paperwork.”
Related: Rosie O’Donnell Moved To Ireland To Be Safe From Trump!
One guess for why her visa was revoked are her ties to the beverage company Holy! Water, which she co-founded. They sell a product that contains Delta-9, “full spectrum hemp.” In 2018, Delta 9-THC was legalized, but only if the product contained no more than 0.3% THC. Anything higher is still considered a controlled substance. Hmm.
She was determined to return to LA and got a new job offer. She planned to head to the San Ysidro, California border — where she received her first visa — with the new paperwork to get the visa renewed and enter the US. However, an immigration lawyer she was put in touch with, Len Saunders, advised her against heading back to the Mexico border due to the current political climate under President Donald Trump‘s administration. What was usually a “simple” process at the San Ysidro border, especially for Canadians, had started to get more iffy after the election. He told CityNews Vancouver:
“Jasmine mentioned she was going to San Ysidro. I said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea with this new administration and the political climate.’ I said, ‘Look, if you are my client, I would probably advise you to do this on the northern border. I just have a bad feeling from when the new administration took over.’ “
Regardless, Jasmine went ahead with her plan and attempted to enter the US on March 3 — but she was denied. And here’s where things got strange, her lawyer explained:
“If you get denied a visa, they just deny you entry, and you’re on your way, and you come back with whatever’s missing.”
But that’s not the case anymore, at least not for Jasmine. Border agents initially told her she would need to visit a US Consulate to apply for legal status to work in the country again, but they then refused to let her re-enter Mexico. She was kept in a cold room before she was detained by ICE and moved to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego. She told KGTV:
“I was put in a cell, and I had to sleep on a mat with no blanket, no pillow, with an aluminum foil wrapped over my body like a dead body for two and a half days.”
Jeez. Later, she was woken in the middle of the night with several other women to be transferred to her current detention center. Her mother Alexis Eagles said on Facebook that the family was keeping a close watch on the tracking system — and they thought she was released! She shared:
“On Sunday, March 9, the online tracking system indicated that she had been released. We assumed this meant she was being deported and escorted to an airport. However, 24 hours later, there was no sign of her, no communication, and we were extremely worried. We eventually learned that about 30 people, including Jasmine, were forcibly removed from their cells at 3:00 am and transferred to the San Luis Detention Center in Arizona.”
Jasmine said she and her other detainees were “up for 24 hours wrapped in chains” during the transfer. She claims the conditions in the private, for-profit facility are terrible, including the food that she has been unable to eat causing her to lose weight. Tearing up, she said:
“I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane.”
Awful.
Jasmine remains in custody. Her family is trying to do everything they can to get her out, but they don’t even know why ICE has her. Her business partner BJ McCaslin told CityNews that he got a message from her last week noting that detainment feels “like a bad dream.” He expressed:
“It’s a nightmare. She has no idea how this happened. […] No one knows what’s going on, and that’s our biggest concern here, right? If she’s charged with a crime, then we’d like for her to have an opportunity to have counsel and go through due process. But from what we’re understanding, it’s just a detainment, and so we’d love to have transparency in the situation and expedite a finality to it.”
Jasmine told KGTV:
“Every single guard that sees me is like ‘What are you doing here? I don’t understand — you’re Canadian. How are you here?’”
Her own government isn’t doing much to help her either! While Global Affairs Canada said they’re aware of a Canadian being held in Arizona, spokeswoman Brittany Fletcher revealed:
“Every country or territory decides who can enter or exit through its borders. The Government of Canada cannot intervene on behalf of Canadian citizens with regard to the entry and exit requirements of another country.”
Oof. That said, British Columbia Premier David Eby is urging the Canadian government to do “all they can” as her family and friends continue to speak out on her behalf. And there is some hope. Her parents have announced that she is expected to be released on Friday and be home within the next 24 hours. Fingers crossed! Otherwise, the immigration lawyer predicted she could be held up for “months” amid the lengthy deportation process.
Hear more about this predicament (below):
What an insane situation… We hope she’s okay!
Thoughts? Share them (below).
[Image via Universal & Alexis Eagles/Facebook]
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