B.C. woman denied entry into U.S., being held in detention in Arizona

An Abbotsford woman is calling for help to get her 35-year-old daughter home after she was denied entry into the United States and has since been held in detention.

Alexis Eagles says her daughter, Jasmine Mooney, tried to enter the United States on March 3 with a visa for a consulting job. According to Eagles, “She was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the San Ysidro border crossing, where she was held for three nights.”

Since Mooney’s initial detainment, Eagles says she has been moved across several detention facilities, including ones in California and Arizona.

“She was transferred to Otay Mesa Detention Centre in San Diego and held for another three nights. On Sunday, March 9, the online tracking system indicated that she had been released. We assumed this meant she was being deported and escorted to an airport. However, 24 hours later, there was no sign of her, no communication, and we were extremely worried,” Eagles continued on her post on Facebook.

“We eventually learned that about 30 people, including Jasmine, were forcibly removed from their cells at 3:00 am and transferred to the San Luis Detention Center in Arizona. They are housed together in a single concrete cell with no natural light, fluorescent lights that are never turned off, no mats, no blankets, and limited bathroom facilities.”

Eagles says communication with her daughter has been “sporadic,” adding that it’s only because one of Mooney’s close friends has contacts in the U.S. that they’ve been able to get updates on her whereabouts and welfare.

“What we have learned of the ICE system and its treatment of detainees is inhumane and deeply concerning. Being detained is one thing, but there’s NO excuse for the way people are treated while in custody or for the delays in deportation. They are not criminals, and they just want to go home,” Eagles explained.

“We are doing everything we can to bring Jasmine home. We are in touch with the Canadian Consulate in San Diego, but there is little they can do. A lawyer is also working on her release, but progress is slow.

“Jasmine is an adventurous and hard-working young woman, and we desperately want her home,” Eagles said.

In a statement to 1130 NewsRadio, Global Affairs Canada, the agency responsible for the country’s diplomatic and consular relations, says it is aware that a Canadian citizen is being detained in Arizona.

“Consular officials are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information and to provide consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations, no further information can be disclosed,” Global Affairs said on Thursday.

“Every country or territory decides who can enter or exit through its borders. The Government of Canada cannot intervene on behalf of Canadian citizens with regard to the entry and exit requirements of another country.”

U.S. immigration lawyer warned Mooney of potential problems at Mexico crossing

Len Saunders, an immigration lawyer based in Blaine, Wash., says he became aware of Mooney’s case a couple of weeks ago.

He tells 1130 that he has been a longtime lawyer for one of Mooney’s friends, and she was referred to him when she needed to renew her TN visa, also known as USMCA professional visa.

“This lady was talking about renewing her visa down at San Ysidro. Now, San Ysidro, if you drive south on the I-5, it’s basically the same as Peace Arch, but on the Mexican border in San Diego. So I, for years, have had clients go there quite often,” Saunders said on Thursday.

Saunders explained that historically, the TN visa process has been “simple,” with immigration officials at the southern U.S. border previously telling him they’re “easy” compared to the other claims they usually see. “These are Canadian visas,” he said.

“Jasmine mentioned she was going to San Ysidro. I said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea with this new administration and the political climate.’ I said, ‘Look, if you are my client, I would probably advise you to do this on the northern border. I just have a bad feeling from when the new administration took over.'” Saunders explained.

He points to another similar incident in which a British national is being held in a detention facility after being denied entry into the United States from Canada. “She’s now in the same, you know, predicament down at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma,” Saunders said.

Mooney’s visa application seemed straightforward, Saunders adds, and her continued detention flies in the face of the status quo.

“Usually, if you get denied a visa, they just deny you entry, and you’re on your way, and you come back with whatever’s missing,” he explained.

But that’s not what happened with Mooney.

Saunders initially believed that once she was taken to the first detention facility in California, authorities would “just throw her on a plane in Los Angeles and send her back to Canada.”

“Then a few days later, I got the call that she was being released. And so I figured, okay, end of story,” he said. “Well, she was being released, but being transferred to an actual deportation facility somewhere in Arizona, where I’m assuming there’s thousands of illegals.”

“So she’s been languishing now in custody for two weeks down in San Diego and then Arizona. It just seems like a colossal waste of government resources.”

Mooney could remain in detention for months: U.S. immigration lawyer

Saunders says Mooney’s experience is an indication of what’s happening in the United States in regard to immigration.

“I’m sure she’s going to be in custody for a while because it’s not just a matter of deporting the person. There’s procedures. She has to go and see an immigration judge. They have to determine whether thousands of people are ahead of her who are waiting to see a judge. So, usually, it’s not days; it’s weeks or months. So she could be in there for a few more months,” he said.

Saunders says he feels sorry for Mooney.

“When she did this, she didn’t expect to be in custody for months and months. And when you hear someone being deported, you assume they’re criminals, they’re terrorists, they’ve had horrible immigration violations,” he explained. “When I spoke to her two weeks ago, it seemed like a pretty straightforward case, and I’m assuming now she regrets doing the application down on the southern border.”

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“[There’s] just such a climate of distrust of people coming into the country, especially through the southern border,” he added.

According to Mooney’s Instagram, she is a co-founder of Holy! Water, a beverage company that says it contains “Ketones + Nootropics + Functional Mushrooms.”

Saunders says that while the reason for Mooney’s detention is currently unclear, he personally warned the Canadian government “of the lifetime implications if a Canadian is caught at the U.S. border with a controlled substance, whether it’s marijuana, THC, CBD.”

But Saunders reiterates that the U.S. in the past would “deny entry to the individual and send them back north or south.”

“This is a huge overreach, and it’s so hypocritical. You’ve heard of these stories of Americans being detained for months or years in Russia when they have minuscule amounts of contraband, right? It’s happened to a female basketball player, and it’s a huge political incident,” he said.

“Well, apparently, the Americans don’t take their own advice here, and they’re doing it to Canadians. It’s such a double standard.

“I’m appalled by the way the American government has been treating Canadians at the border in the last few months. I hope this isn’t an indication of what’s going to happen over the next four years.”

Mooney’s business partner, BJ McCaslin, tells CityNews Vancouver that he and their team are very concerned about her welfare.

“We’re all very stressed out, very concerned, very scared, and hoping we find a swift resolution to this matter,” he said.

McCaslin says Mooney sent him a message earlier Thursday saying, “It’s like a bad dream.”

“It’s a nightmare. She has no idea how this happened,” he explained. “And for us, it’s just been constant updates that she’s going to stay strong and she’s fighting, and there’s other people that are in there with her. It’s dire circumstances, but [there’s] been a positivity in her trying to fight through this process to get to a resolution so she can return home with her family and friends.”

McCaslin said he and the Holy! Water team found out about her detention when Mooney didn’t show up for a scheduled trade show last week in Anaheim, Calif.

“No one knows what’s going on, and that’s our biggest concern here, right? If she’s charged with a crime, then we’d like for her to have an opportunity to have counsel and go through due process. But from what we’re understanding, it’s just a detainment, and so we’d love to have transparency in the situation and expedite a finality to it,” McCaslin explained.

McCaslin confirms that Holy! Water is a federally legal and regulated product in the U.S., covered under the 2018 Farm Bill, officially the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. However, he says it’s entirely possible the mushrooms in the beverages may have been misunderstood by border agents as a controlled substance.

“Functional mushrooms are new to the industry. They used to be called adaptogens … and there’s also nootropics that we put into our drinks,” he explained. “I think that there were misinterpretations as to what the previous visa allowed her to do with our product, and it put her in this situation where I think somebody is confused.”

“I think that the situation just needs some transparency, and believe me, I am a full supporter of the U.S. government and the bipartisan leadership that we have. I’m not sitting here saying that this process is wrong for what’s going on, but the transparency is what’s incorrect, and we need to figure out, not just for Jasmine, but for everybody who’s going through this process,” he added.

McCaslin says that Mooney has a large, “strong willed” community, but not everyone in a similar situation to her has that.

“We not only want to speak on behalf of Jasmine, but everybody else out here who’s going through this. … You don’t realize how much it affects you until it’s actually happening to you, right? … It’s a very, very extremely troubling situation,” he said.

1130 NewsRadio has reached out to Mooney’s mother, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more information.

“I understand if someone has criminal convictions or immigration violations,” Saunders said. “This is a fellow Canadian who is legally trying to apply for a work visa at a U.S. port of entry.

“She’s doing everything right, regardless of whether she was applying for a company that happened to be in the hemp business, that’s irrelevant. What’s relevant is, did she violate U.S. immigration laws, and should she be detained for months and months and months.”

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