Off The Record

American Pie Star ‘Wrapped In Chains’ After Being Arrested By ICE While Trying To Seek For A Visa

Published on March 16, 2025

After being held by ICE while attempting to petition for her visa, a former American Pie actor has talked about her difficult experience.

Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian actress and businesswoman who starred in the 2009 American Pie Presents: The Book of Love movie, has expressed her disapproval of being held in custody even though she has not been accused of a crime.

She claimed that while attempting to get a new visa, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested her at the southern border.

On March 3, she was pulled up at the San Ysidro border between San Diego and Mexico. After discovering in November of last year that her three-year Tennessee work visa had been canceled as she was attempting to board a trip from Vancouver to Los Angeles, she had gone to the border crossing earlier this month.

With a new job offer and her visa documents in hand, she attempted to secure another visa at San Ysidro, where she had obtained her first work visa, on the advice of her lawyer.

Mooney told KGTV that she came into the country via Mexico, where border guards first suggested that she go to a US Consulate to file for legal status so that she could resume working in the US. After that, she was imprisoned and denied re-entry into Mexico.

Speaking to the outlet from inside the San Luis Regional Detention Center in Arizona, she 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?’”

“I have never in my life seen anything so inhumane.”

Mooney added that the circumstances under which she was detained were far from ideal.

She added: “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 also expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the meals she has been receiving since being arrested, but a representative for the private company has condemned her remarks.

Brian Todd, a spokesman for the private firm that owns the detention facility, stated that the institution serves “nutritious” meals to prisoners every day.

She added that she was sent to Arizona in the middle of the night along with thirty other women.

She added, “We were up for 24 hours wrapped in chains.”

Mooney, however, has not been charged with any crimes and is anticipated to be freed today, March 14, following an 11-day incarceration.

Mooney’s father also discussed his daughter’s incarceration and expressed his belief that the pressure on the authorities is a contributing factor in her release.

Speaking to CBS, he said, “Jasmine’s a strong girl, but what she has gone through is … no one should do that.”