**"Handcuffed and Detained" Canadian Woman Recounts Nightmarish Deportation Ordeal in US
- By Dagmar Seeland
- 3 Min Read
U.S. Deportation Detention: A Canadian Woman Recounts Striking, Dramatic Scenes of Imprisonment - Dramatic accounts of U.S. deportation ordeals detailed by a Canadian woman
Out-of-work Canadian Jasmine Mooney, a former actress, had resided in Los Angeles for years. Like many of her compatriots, she had a US work visa that she had renewed last year. Yet, complications arose in November, prompting Mooney to apply for a new work visa from Canada. On March 3, she attempted to re-enter San Diego via the Mexican border with her new valid documents, only to be arrested.
According to The Guardian, Mooney was quickly patted down like a criminal and whisked off to a detention center without the opportunity to contact her lawyer. This marked the beginning of Mooney's nightmare, and one that is currently affecting some Germans with valid visas as well.
Mooney's cell, a small, chilly room with gray floors, bright neon lights, and a distant corner toilet, housed five women lying limp on the ground, covered in aluminum foil. She remembers them looking like corpses. On the third day, she was allowed to make a phone call, informing a friend of her situation. Her request to book a flight and pay for it herself was denied.
Instead, Mooney was taken to the Otay Mesa Detention Center, a men's prison outside San Diego. Officials there informed her she might be there for months, which turned out to be the case for many of the 140 women on her floor, including a master's student from India who had overstayed her visa by just two days. There was a woman with a ten-year valid US work visa who had inadvertently ended up on the wrong lane towards Mexico with her husband on the highway, causing their arrest because they didn't have their passports.
A few days later, Mooney was transferred to a prison in Arizona. The long bus ride, with fifty women crammed inside, was harrowing. Each woman was shackled; their handcuffs were tightly affixed to waist chains, their feet locked together. Upon arrival at the San Luis Regional Detention Center, the women were subjected to a pregnancy test.
Compared to Arizona, the conditions in California were like a five-star hotel. Because Mooney discovered a hidden tablet on the cell wall, she was able to send an email to her client's boss, which led to media coverage and negotiation with Canadian authorities.
Is Deportation a L lucrative Business?
Over a fortnight later, Mooney's case moved quickly: An ICE agent contacted her. He claimed she could have been released sooner if she had agreed to pay for her return flight, a proposition she found bewildering. Upon her arrival at San Diego airport, she was secretly escorted through a back door by officers.
Mooney learned from friends about the constant calling and emailing to lawyers and media, trying to secure her release. She reflects, "The US immigration system is not just a bureaucratic nightmare; it's a business model." Facilities like CoreCivic and GEO Group that run these detention centers receive state subsidies based on the number of inmates they hold, creating an incentive to keep people detained for long periods. During the 2019 fiscal year, CoreCivic amassed a staggering $560 million, with GEO Group netting $763 million from ICE subsidies.
"I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, money, support from friends, family, media, and even a politician," said Mooney, "Yet it still took me two weeks to escape this hell." She felt like a hostage.
- Deportation
- Detention
- USA
- ICE
- San Diego
- Arizona
Did you know? 💡
Private detention centers in the US provide facilities and services to government agencies for housing and managing detainees, including both immigrants awaiting deportation or asylum proceedings and individuals in the criminal justice system. These companies, such as CoreCivic and GEO Group, secure contracts with federal and state agencies, like ICE and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, for per-diem fees for detaining individuals. Key challenges include staffing shortages, legal compliance, public perception, and increased demand due to enhanced immigration enforcement policies.
- Jasmine Mooney, a former actress from Canada, expresses her inability to fathom how she was detained in the USA despite having a valid work visa and the support of Canadian authorities, stating, "I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, money, support from friends, family, media, and even a politician, yet it still took me two weeks to escape this hell."
- The San Luis Regional Detention Center in Arizona, where Mooney was transferred, subjected the inmates to a pregnancy test upon arrival, indicating the extensive medical screenings and monitoring that occur within detention facilities overseen by the USA's ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
- Usage of private detention centers for housing and managing detainees, such as CoreCivic and GEO Group, operating on per-diem fees from federal and state agencies like ICE and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, suggests that the deportation process may serve as a lucrative business, as these facilities receive subsidies based on the number of inmates they hold, creating a financial incentive to keep people detained for extended periods.
