A Canadian woman who once graced TV screens as an actress is now speaking out about a terrifying real-life experience that she says felt like being “kidnapped” — not by criminals, but by U.S. immigration officials.
The actor Jasmine Mooney who played a role in American Pie Presents: The Book of Love spent twelve days detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) upon what she supposed would be ordinary border travel.
Mooney experienced a 12-day detention nightmare after her initial border crossing attempt from Mexico into the U.S. which began as a simple immigration process. Today she works as a business consultant in California.
Mooney entered the United States under a NAFTA professional visa and she previously made border crossings between Canada and the U.S. without difficulty.
Mooney returned to Canada following her visa revocation that occurred because the officers misunderstood her application location at San Diego border where her attorney maintained an office.
A fresh job possibility caused her to seek another visa application before making another border attempt despite believing she complied with all requirements.
But when she returned to the immigration office at San Diego, she encountered what she described as “confused opinions” about her case.
After Mooney agreed with the officer at the airport about consulate application an unexpected scenario developed.
“I was told, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong. Mooney vividly remembered hearing these words from the officer in her Guardian essay as he informed her she was innocent and not facing criminal charges.
The comfort she felt from being told she was not considered a criminal turned into an immediate rioting incident that consisted of pat-down procedures and forced divestiture of personal items.
Mooney received no clarifications and no legal assistance before ICE placed her in a detention facility where she remained in small dirty cells lit by bright fluorescent lights with five detained women.
She spent two days confined to that cell without phone access and got brief breaks only for eating her meals.
The officials presented her with a collection of documents that required her to seek consulate re-entry permission for which she showed no resistance.
Mooney was so exhausted that she signed the documents as she agreed to pay for her own flight but thought all the misery would end at that point.
But instead, she was transferred to a more severe facility, processed into what she described as “real jail,” and bounced through different centers for days.
The psychological experiment of being isolated from reality hit her when she realized her family worked frantically to secure her release.
“From the moment I arrived, I begged every officer I saw to let me pay for my own ticket home,” she said.
Mooney obtained freedom when friends and family members along with attorneys and politicians intervened to obtain her release before returning her to San Diego to be with her relatives.
In her opinion the detention was surreal but she acknowledged her fortunate situation that provided her with legal and media support.
Then, she made a chilling observation: “Imagine what this system is like for every other person in there.”
The system of ICE detention operates as a profit-based operation rather than being limited to a bureaucratic problem according to her discovery.
“These facilities are privately owned and run for profit,” she said. “It’s a business. This is not just my story. The situation affects a massive group numbering in the thousands.
The ICE representative verified Mooney’s detention because she lacks proper documentation while under directives from former President Donald Trump’s administration.
Feature Image Credit: (Universal Studios) (CTV News) (EPA) and (Instagram/jasminemooney)