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.

  • StopTouchingYourPhone@lemmy.world
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    1 day 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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      22 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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        9 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

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    These stories make me wish people hadn’t reelected Bush and Obama when both made it very clear they were supportive of fascist policies like torture, extraordinary rendition, drone bombings without accountability, permanent imprisonment, etc.

    None of this is new. It’s just louder now.

        • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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          22 hours ago

          I didn’t see the comment, but my guess is they were likely referring to Gitmo or El Nuevo Chipote.

          Do you think these prisoners are being sent outside the country so they can be treated humanely?

        • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
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          22 hours ago

          your original statement is correct, but i feel the need to speak up on behalf of obama.

          the terrorist kill list was a little shady, but it was effective (although messy).

          we really need to embrace the power of martial force for good. the good guys can’t always take the high road. sometimes there is no better solution than to just apply a hammer.

            • Count042@lemmy.ml
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              22 hours ago

              You’re more respectful then the person you are responding to deserves.

              • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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                22 hours ago

                People are less likely to listen to your point of view if you don’t approach them in good faith. I wish Democrats would learn this lesson.

            • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
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              22 hours ago

              do i really need to explain the nuance of this to you?

              was it idealistically right? no. was it acceptable collateral damage in war? yes.

              we firebombed entire civilian cities in WWII and we were the good guys. perspective is important.

              EDIT: i do agree with you about how we have allowed the power of the executive branch to expand to a point that is now a crisis, but i will still defend obama as a president.

              • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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                22 hours ago

                I don’t think bombing campaigns in WWII are comparable to a president ordering illegal assassinations of American citizens by fiat.

                You can justify it to yourself if you like, but it’s not an opinion that these crimes have normalized the activities of Donald Trump. (Though it was a 20+ year process that, IMHO, started with George W. Bush and 9/11)

                • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
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                  22 hours ago

                  i’m not disagreeing with you. i’m just trying to bring some nuance to some of the statements that have been made.

                  and you keep saying that is was an authorized assassination, which is not true. it was collateral damage.

            • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
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              17 hours ago

              the point is that it takes messy solutions sometimes. we need to come to peace with that if we want to truly resist the current administration. you can’t stay on your high horse forever if you want to survive.

              • A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world
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                7 hours ago

                Those “messy solutions” are real convenient for White America I’ve noticed. I wonder how willing you’d be to accept “collateral damage” if it was your hospitals and weddings getting bombed.

                This is liberal garbage and a huge part of the reason America is so hated.

          • JacksonLamb@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            the terrorist kill list was a little shady, but it was effective

            This is “effective” as well. For Musk/Trump.

            Doesn’t make it okay.

            • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
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              1 hour ago

              it’s okay when the good guys do it. it’s not ok when our enemies do it. goose and gander comparisons should never be made if it justifies your opposition. i’m just trying to get people to understand how wars work. “by any means necessary” is what it takes to win. if the victory defeats an existential threat to humanity, then whatever it took to do it was justified.

      • JacksonLamb@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        It’s the same thing, only the leopards have turned around and started eating a different set of faces.

        • SolidShake@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          I’ve never heard stories of people with green cards getting sent to camp prisons though before.

          • JacksonLamb@lemmy.world
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            18 hours ago

            Like I said. Same leopards. Green card holders just didn’t think leopards would eat their faces.

            The US has had these internationally illegal and abusive practices for a long time now. It has a whole infrastructure for it.

      • djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        22 hours ago

        No, it’s just at home now. The CIA has been torturing people in black sites around the globe for decades now. If anything, those conditions were far worse, since it doesn’t seem like any migrants detained are getting waterboarded yet.

        • SolidShake@lemmy.world
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          18 hours ago

          But not its own citizens. I’m aware of US war crimes and torture. I was never aware of camps holding legal immigrants

      • venusaur@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        At that point does it even matter? Like, if she were working another profession would they put it in the headline?

        • metaldream@sopuli.xyz
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          1 day ago

          You’re only hearing about her because she has media connections in the first place.

          • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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            21 hours ago

            Canada has been hearing about it since the day the US government agents kidnapped her.

             

            Yes, I intentionally chose those specific words.

        • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
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          2 days ago

          No, but I suspect the last line qualifies it’s inclusion, where her"status" and presence in the media field gave her an opportunity to amplify her story and provide the visibility it needed to get her freed.

          • rockhard@lemm.ee
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            1 day ago

            Yes and it also raises visibility for the very real issues that people have raised concerns about. It’s one thing to detain and/or deport people without proper documentation. It’s another to act as though people with the proper documentation who are abiding the laws are also being detained and/or deported. Say nothing for the US citizens who are also being detained and/or deported.

        • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          1 day ago

          I don’t want to minimise her suffering but I’m sure there are many other people in similar situations that we haven’t heard about.

          • AA5B@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            White, some level of fame, voluntarily coming in from the “right” side of the border, had some sort of paperwork, her work visa apparently hadn’t yet expired?

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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    22 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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      9 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%.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

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

      • SolidShake@lemmy.world
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        18 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.

        • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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          13 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.

      • Guns0rWeD13@lemmy.world
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        22 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.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      8 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…

  • ms.lane@lemmy.world
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    2 days 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!

  • 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.

  • zarkanian@sh.itjust.works
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    26 minutes ago

    That’s terrible, but let’s be real. The only reason why this is news is because she’s a white woman.

  • 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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      5 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.