Canadian actor detained at US border in ‘inhumane conditions’ for nearly two weeks

Entrepreneur and actor Jasmine Mooney, who had a role in an American Pie sequel, says she was arrested at southern border and held in detention over an incomplete work visa

A Canadian entrepreneur and actor in the American Pie movie franchise said she was detained for almost two weeks in “inhumane” conditions by US border authorities over an incomplete visa.

Jasmine Mooney, an actor who is also co-founder of the beverage brand Holy! Water, was detained on 3 March in San Diego, California.

The 35-year-old Canadian citizen’s work visa to the US was reportedly revoked back in November while traveling from Vancouver to Los Angeles, and she was attempting to file a new application.

“Every single guard that sees me is like, ‘What are you doing here? I don’t understand. You’re Canadian. How are you here?’” Mooney said in an interview with ABC 10 last week from the Arizona immigration detention center where she was being held.

Her mother, Alexis Eagles, who lives in British Columbia, says Mooney was detained at the San Ysidro border crossing between Mexico and San Diego, the busiest land border crossing in the world, on 3 March with an incomplete application for a work visa. Eagles told the Vancouver Sun that instead of sending her daughter to Canada or advising her to fix her application, US Customs and Border Protection officers arrested her.