Summary

“American Pie” actress Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian citizen, was detained by ICE while attempting to renew her work visa at the U.S.-Mexico border on March 3.

She described the experience as a “deeply disturbing psychological experiment,” including sleeping on a mat with “aluminum foil wrapped over my body like a dead body,” being transported in chains, and receiving inedible food.

Officials allegedly told her she was “unprofessional because I didn’t have a proper letterhead” on her paperwork.

After her release, Mooney credited media attention and her support network for securing her freedom.

  • Colloidal@programming.dev
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    21 hours ago

    She spent 11 days detained.

    “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,” […] “I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane.” She went on to describe one incident when she and 30 other women were moved in the middle of the night to a facility in Arizona. During the ordeal, she was forced to be “up for 24 hours wrapped in chains.”

    From CBC.CA (Eagles is her mother’s surname):

    Eagles said the detainees at the San Luis facility have no sleeping mats or blankets or windows, and the lights are on all day and night.

    • melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      14 hours ago

      if you work in a restaurant law enforcement eat at, I think it’s safe to completely forget about food safety. food safety regulations have never been as big a deal as anti torture laws. really just have fun with it, you know?

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        On the other hand, if you have undocumented people working at that restaurant, best not to draw any unneeded attention to the staff by law enforcement.

        • melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 hours ago

          I think it’s always better if you don’t get caught.

          the politics get complicated, of course, but managing risk and the micropolitics of balancing compliance/resistance are too situational to make blanket statements about online.

          but there might be a value to giving them food poisoning so they don’t eat there anymore. there might be value in keeping them there. I dunno. I’d err on the side of offense; they don’t have loyalty, and their proximity means you might just be the one they lash out at if they have a bad day, but I can see the argument the other way.

    • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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      19 hours ago

      Jesus Christ, they already tried that shit with the lights in Trump I and the 9th circuit told them to fucking stop it. I distinctly remember because one of the judges was in a Japanese internment camp as a kid, and he ate that dipshit Trump attorney alive.

      And yet, here we are again.

        • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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          17 hours ago

          I hate the fucking title of this video so fucking much it pains me to share it, but this is really the best cut, IMO. There’s also the full hour version on YouTube if you search “9th circuit Sarah Fabian”.

          https://youtu.be/0QGLh7JOQHc

          Enjoy!

          • melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            14 hours ago

            I have been literally dragged away and locked in a cage overnight for being a miniscule fraction as evasive dishonest and disrespectful as this piece of shit nazi scum was to a judge. these people are at fault for not just locking this bitch up-and for bonus karma, doing it in conditions it defines are okay.

            treating nazis with kid gloves is how we got here.

            • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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              2 hours ago

              Yeah. Imo, extra painful because you can tell that she knows what she’s arguing for is wrong. Not only does she know she should be ashamed, on some level, deep down in there, she is ashamed, and she’s there arguing for it anyway.

    • JimmyMcGill@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      WTF

      Edit: Americans need to be on the street for this shit and everything else that’s happening

      I don’t care how, just get that dictator out of there

      • melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        14 hours ago

        I mean, no. this is several steps past when americans needed to be on the streets. this is the point where we should be getting off the streets, because there’s not enough cover there.

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    Are these the privately owned detention centers? All I can say the USA has several Dachau’s and it could become worse.

    • kava@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Vast majority of immigration detention centers are privately owned

      It’s a sharp contrast to private prisons where it’s less than 10%.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      6 hours ago

      The idiots here are the ICE agents.

      10-to-1 they had no idea what to do when a Canadian citizen showed up at the Mexican borderder.

      The real scary shit is in the last line:

      After her release, Mooney credited media attention and her support network for securing her freedom.

      How many people don’t have that luxury?

      Like, not every lawful immigrant is a C-list actress best known for an American Pie spinoff that didn’t even have Stiffler. Surely several are falling through the cracks.

      This has got me concerned that a statistically significant number of people who don’t have that kind of reach are just…disappearing…

  • jpreston2005@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    When this is happening to even the beautiful white women, you know shit’s a thousand times worse for BIPOC… I know that we had issues with immigration during previous administrations, but they were nothing compared to this vile treatment.

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    Those people have been storing up their hatred for 150 years, passing to each new generation. Only way to combat it is to eradicate it at the source

      • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        this. the system is broken. the DOJ is owned. trump et al are above the law. they knew going in that the entire charade only operates under the threat of violence and they currently have a monopoly on that. if you don’t have stock in violence, you don’t have a place at the table. we all need to buy some stock.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      19 hours ago

      They’re ignoring the courts. What will suing do when there’s nobody enforcing the ruling when you “win”?

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          If the executiv branch doesn’t cooperate, that’s the end of it.

          The Courts power ultimately means nothing is the executive branch doesn’t execute.

      • SolidShake@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        You can sue for false imprisonment and other stuff I’m sure. Shouldn’t be too hard to win in California, especially if her green card was valid when she was taken.

  • RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 day ago

    I’m confused, did she even try to cross the border or was she just there to renew her visa? Why not just send her back for fuck’s sake?

    Edit:
    Okay, if I understood it correctly, she was already in the US and had a valid visa, which was about to expire. Her lawyer told her to go to the border to renew it, and as she was working in LA, that was the nearest border crossing. This makes it even more insane.

    • JacksonLamb@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      It tracks. They captured a German tourist with a valid passport and held her for over a month instead of sending her back. The cruelty is the point.

      • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        That’s a good way for cruelty to come back around. Abuse a hundred thousand people and see if a few don’t snap and take it out on those responsible. Seems like domestic terrorism may not be just a right wing hobby for too much longer. Bet authorities suddenly take it more seriously if that does happen.

        • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
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          17 hours ago

          They’re banking on that happening so they can cry terrorism and swing emergency powers into full effect in response. Then they won’t even have to detain you they can just shoot you on the spot. They’re soft rolling the ethnic cleansing right now but if people start fighting back against it they’ll probably stomp the accelerator on it.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      Seriously , that’s what happened? I was going to say, the article wasn’t clear on whether there was actually a problem but it sounds like not

  • Ziggurat@jlai.lu
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    1 day ago

    While the actress has some notoriety, huge part of the international trade relies on short term work visa. When Airbus builds a new factory in the US, or That a US factory chooses German industrial robots, you need to send people on short-term work visa to kickstart it.

    • philpo@feddit.org
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      3 hours ago

      And there are numerous European/German companies who have already have put a hold on all US travel for their staff. Some critical infrastructure/defence companies even seek to implement “not even for vacation” clauses for their management levels.

      The German government is openly considering a travel warning. Which would fuck over things a lot because then a) employers can hardly make their staff go to the US anymore b) most travel insurance companies won’t cover the US anymore with their standard plans (it’s already more expensive due to the insane healthcare costs) and require individual high risk country plans - which are a lot of paperwork and everything.

      This will fuck over the US royally - because even if Trump wants to push US based manufacturing these factories need equipment. And this equipment is really not produced in the US much - it comes from Europe/Japan if you want the best and China if you are interested in the “cheap” stuff. But now it will come with either a hefty surcharge (think like double the price - or more) or not come at all because it’s not worth the hazzle.

      Especially for factory equipment, healthcare (there are already a lot of medical product manufacturers who simply do not serve the US market due to the insane costs to access it with little to gain) and pharma this is very relevant.

  • ms.lane@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Officials allegedly told her she was “unprofessional because I didn’t have a proper letterhead” on her paperwork.

    How dare her paperwork not wear a suit!

  • StopTouchingYourPhone@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    The family’s using her traumatic experience to publicize the inhumane conditions at those 3 detention centres, and raise awareness for her cellmates. They talk about constant lighting (torture), being moved at 3am to a different state (fucking with your lawyer), being chained and overcrowded.

    “There’s 30 other people in her cell that have not even been spoken to by a detention caseworker. So there are people in there whose families don’t know where their kids are.” - Jasmine’s father, Stephen Mooney, speaking on March 13th.

    These conditions should be common knowledge, and this traumatized family is doing what they can on that front.

    You and I are not more safe than she is. Our neighbours are not more safe than she is. Her escape does not make her the enemy of her cellmates. We’re all Venezuelan gang members (or whoever it’s ok to fuck with) if they take our papers and deem us so.

    Non-entertainment news source here.

    • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      and if people don’t think political dissidents are on the list, they’re delusional. we may not be the priority yet, but they’re checking off demographics at an alarming rate.

      • kava@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        but they’re checking off demographics at an alarming rate.

        yeah those two arab protestor students that are getting deported- they’re essentially getting detained and eventually removed because they spoke out against Israel. it’s an attempt to put a damper on speech for the whole country. sort of sending a message to immigrants- you better watch what you’re saying or we will get you