Canada is not happy with the US — no small thanks to Trump’s insulting comments and excessive tariffs — but a new story involving an innocent British Columbian makes it all even worse. 35-year-old Jasmine Mooney was attempting to enter the US with a consulting visa when ICE unexpectedly detained her at the San Diego border. She was first held at the San Ysidro border crossing for three nights before being moved to San Diego’s Otay Mesa Detention Centre, where ICE allegedly put her into chains.
“We were up for 24 hours wrapped in chains,” Mooney told ABC 10News San Diego in an appalling recollection. She claims to have been put into a cell with nothing but a mat and an aluminum foil wrap to stay warm at night. The Canadian woman said to have “lost so much weight” due to the food being inedible, not to mention the stress she must have been undergoing at the facility. “I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane,” she exclaimed.
The reason behind Mooney’s cruel detainment by ICE was that she was reportedly “unprofessional.” It was “because I didn’t have a proper letterhead on my paperwork,” she explained. Speaking to Vancouver Sun, Alexis Eagles, Mooney’s mother, says that there’s no problem with her daughter being denied entry, as it’s fairly common to run into issues when dealing with visas and paperwork for entry into the US. Eagles continued:
“But we have a huge issue with the inhumane treatment she is receiving and that she knows nothing, has not been charged, and has not been able to speak with us directly.”
The mistreatment by ICE at the San Diego border wasn’t the end of Mooney’s suffering. The Canadian 35-year-old was transferred to the San Luis Detention Center in Arizona with about 30 other people, according to a Facebook post by Eagles. The concerned mother describes how the detainees are stuck in a single concrete cell together and have not been provided any mats, blankets, or proper bathroom facilities. “They are not criminals, and they just want to go home,” Eagles grieved.
The Facebook post has now garnered over a thousand reactions, with dozens of users sharing their grief and overwhelming support for Mooney’s safe return to Canada. “This is vile. People on [the] US side will pay dearly for this blunder,” remarks a comment on Reddit. “Soon it won’t just be non-Americans held by ICE, but anyone who isn’t compliant with Trump’s demands,” warns another.
