I'm the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped (long, must read)

[Demovictory9]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/canadian-detained-us-immigration-jasmine-mooney

I’m the Canadian who was detained by Ice for two weeks. It felt like I had been kidnapped

I was stuck in a freezing cell without explanation despite eventually having lawyers and media attention. Yet, compared with others, I was lucky




There was no explanation, no warning. One minute, I was in an immigration office talking to an officer about my work visa, which had been approved months before and allowed me, a Canadian, to work in the US. The next, I was told to put my hands against the wall, and patted down like a criminal before being sent to an Ice detention center without the chance to talk to a lawyer.

__


She then told me they had to send me back to Canada. That didn’t concern me; I assumed I would simply book a flight home. But as I sat searching for flights, a man approached me.

“Come with me,” he said.

There was no explanation, no warning. He led me to a room, took my belongings from my hands and ordered me to put my hands against the wall. A woman immediately began patting me down. The commands came rapid-fire, one after another, too fast to process.

They took my shoes and pulled out my shoelaces.

“What are you doing? What is happening?” I asked.

“You are being detained.”

“I don’t understand. What does that mean? For how long?”

“I don’t know.”

That would be the response to nearly every question I would ask over the next two weeks: “I don’t know.”

They brought me downstairs for a series of interviews and medical questions, searched my bags and told me I had to get rid of half my belongings because I couldn’t take everything with me.

[dalton99a]

1. Kick

The reality became clear: Ice detention isn’t just a bureaucratic nightmare. It’s a business. These facilities are privately owned and run for profit.

Companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. It’s a lucrative business: CoreCivic made over $560m from Ice contracts in a single year. In 2024, GEO Group made more than $763m from Ice contracts.

The more detainees, the more money they make. It stands to reason that these companies have no incentive to release people quickly. What I had experienced was finally starting to make sense.

[hlthe2b]

2. Absolutely horrific. We don't have a country anymore. We have a transitioning dictatorship...

This helplessness is pervasive no matter how determined we might be to think we can make a difference. Maybe we can, but it isn't going to be quick or without difficulty

.

[FirstLight]

3. WHO is paying for this big business of human trafficking??? our taxes!?!

The current case we're all watch8ing with the deported in Venezuela sets the legal precedent. If WE the People don't win that case, we'll have a hell of a time EVER liberating those wrongfully incarcerated

[al bupp]

4. If only DOGE would cut the funding for this

Fat chance though

[surrealAmerican]

5. It's torture.

Unfortunately, our laws will not make this stop.

[kansasobama]

6. Man, and Schumer thinks we are not quite there yet?

Last edited Thu Mar 20, 2025, 01:28 PM - Edit history (1)

This is nothing short of experimenting Nazism.

[Cha]

7. TY kick.. I wonder if he still works in

Lower America?