Canadian woman detained in 'inhumane' conditions by ICE after trying to get her new visa

A Canadian businesswoman was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials and taken to a detention center while trying to get a new visa.

Jasmine Mooney, 35, the co-founder of Holy! Water health drink brand was detained after crossing the San Ysidro border between San Diego and Mexico on March 3 by agents and then held in "inhumane" conditions in the Arizona detention center, her family said.

"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 told ABC's 10 News San Diego.

This comes after the Trump administration passed a law requiring Canadians staying in the US for more than 30 days to register with authorities. Mooney's mother, Alexis Eagles said her daughter was carrying an incomplete application for a new Trade NAFTA work visa after her first one was revoked unexpectedly.

Mooney was then detained at the border for three nights before being taken to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego for three more days. In Otay Mesa, Mooney alleged that she was treated like a "dead body for two and a half days."

"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," she shared.

Mooney was released from the San Diego Center and then transferred to the San Luis Detention Center in Arizona with 30 other women in the middle of the night.

"We were up for 24 hours wrapped in chains," she said, adding, "I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane."

Mooney moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 2024 to work on her startup. She was on a three-year TN work visa. However, when she attempted to return to LA after visiting her family in British Columbia in November 2024, her visa was revoked at Vancouver airport.

"They told me I was unprofessional because I didn’t have a proper letterhead on my paperwork," she claimed. After she was granted the visa, Mooney entered the US via Mexico the first time and tried to do the same now, Eagles said.

"We have no issue with her being denied entry, we have no issue with her initially being detained," Eagles said. “But we have a huge issue with the inhumane treatment she is receiving and that she knows nothing, has not been charged, and has not been able to speak with us directly," she added.

According to 10News, US Customs and Border Protection refused to share on what grounds she was arrested citing privacy reasons. However, they said that it treats all travelers entering the US with respect and dignity.

Mooney's Chicago-based business partner BJ McCaslin called it a "nightmare and living hell," Postmedia News. "I don’t know how someone in her position can be subject to this, and not released immediately once they found out the circumstances," she said.