Canadian actress Jasmine Mooney detained for 12 days in “inhumane conditions” by ICE at border crossing

Canadian actress and entrepreneur Jasmine Mooney has revealed details of the “inhumane” ordeal she was put through by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being detained for almost two weeks because of an incomplete work visa.

Jasmine Mooney detained but not charged

The 35-year-old, who featured in an American Pie sequel and co-founded the Holy! Water drinks brand, was detained on March 3 at the San Ysido border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, where she was attempting to file a new application for a work visa.

Mooney’s first visa was reportedly revoked in November while she was traveling from Vancouver to Los Angeles, where she was living, following a holiday. She revealed to ABC 10 she had got her initial visa at the San Ysido crossing on the advice of an L.A.-based attorney.

Rather than be sent back to Canada or receive assistance with her application, Mooney, who wasn’t charged with any crime and doesn’t have a criminal record, was detained.

She spent three nights in a detention center on site before being transferred to another detention center in San Luis, Arizona, where she says she and about 30 other people were subject to “inhumane” treatment and conditions.

“Like a dead body”

“I can’t even process what just happened, because there was no heads up,” Mooney told reporters after finally being released at the weekend and returning to Canada. “Next thing you know, I’m taken and for two weeks haven’t been told anything. Moved in different cells, sleeping on cement, sleeping in different jail cells. Nothing makes sense to me, and I’m still trying to process the entire situation.

“I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane, 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.”

Mooney didn’t comment on whether her ordeal may have been related to the trade war between the United States and Canada, a claim that was made when news of her arrest initially broke.

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