American Pie actor breaks silence after being detained by ICE for 12 days
After spending 12 days in different facilities in the Southwest, the American Pie Presents: The Book of Love actor said in an interview with CTV News at the Vancouver International Airport on Saturday that she was 'still processing' exactly what happened to her.
'I haven't slept in a while and haven't eaten proper food in a while, so I'm just really going through the motions,' she told the network.
Mooney had been detained after crossing the San Ysidro border between Mexico and San Diego on March 3. She was carrying an incomplete application for a new Trade NAFTA (TN) work visa after her first was unexpectedly revoked, according to her mother, Alexis Eagles.
Eagles said her daughter was subsequently held for three nights at the border before being transferred to the Otay Mesa Detention Centre in San Diego for three more.
She spoke to ABC's 10 News San Diego from the facility about the 'inhumane' conditions she experienced including sleeping on a mat with no pillow or blanket 'with an aluminum foil wrapped over my body like a dead body for two and a half days.'
An online tracking system then indicated Mooney had been released, only for it to emerge that she had been transferred to the San Luis Detention Center in Arizona.
Mooney later confirmed that she arrived home in a since-expired Instagram Story, thanking everyone who reached out to her.
'I'm sorry if I haven't been able to respond to everyone — just got home after what felt like escaping a deeply disturbing psychological experiment,' her message began. 'I am beyond grateful for my friends, family, and the media who worked tirelessly to get me out — without them, I'd still be there. I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone.'
She continued: 'While I was in prison, I began writing an essay about my experience, which I will be sharing soon. I refuse to let what happened break me; instead, I'm choosing to use my voice in the hope that it can help others.'
Speaking to CTV News, Mooney claimed she was given no information about why she was being detained or when she would be able to leave. 'No one told me anything. Not once,' she said. 'I still don't even know how I'm home.'
When she was asked whether or not she regretted trying to apply for a new visa, she told the outlet 'of course.'
'If I knew that that was even a possibility, like even a possibility that that could happen, I would have never, in a million years gone there,' Mooney said. 'I'm telling you, from the second I got there to now, I can't even process what just happened.'
An ICE spokesperson confirmed to People on Monday that Mooney was detained on March 3 'for not having legal documentation' to be in the U.S. and that she was 'processed in accordance' with President Donald Trump's 'Securing Our Borders' executive order.
'All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the U.S., regardless of nationality,' the spokesperson continued.
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Metro
a day ago
- Metro
Ellen DeGeneres fled the States - now she must acknowledge her privilege
Let's not risk that by becoming a sanctuary of celebrity convenience (Picture:) Ellen DeGeneres has officially joined the expat celebrity club. In a conversation with broadcaster Richard Bacon in Cheltenham last weekend, she confirmed that she and her wife, Portia de Rossi, decided to stay in the UK after waking up to the news of Donald Trump's re-election last year. It's not hard to understand why. As someone who worked on Kamala Harris' campaign, believe me when I tell you that I know how that feels. Ellen is a gay woman in her sixties and the second Trump term brings with it a terrifying new wave of assaults on LGBTQ+ people in the US, including efforts to reverse same-sex marriage and a complete ban on trans people serving in the military. There's real fear and pain behind her decision. Hardly anybody else gets to do what Ellen (left) and Portia (right) did (Picture:for RH) But it's also true that this move, framed in quaint tales about chickens and charming architecture, is a glaring example of how celebrities treat immigration like a lifestyle choice – a kind of moral Airbnb. Hardly anybody else gets to do what Ellen and Portia did. They didn't have to apply for asylum or prove they were at risk. They didn't face months in detention centres or fight through legal appeals. They flew in, saw the rolling hills and historic towns, and decided to stay. Join Metro's LGBTQ+ community on WhatsApp With thousands of members from all over the world, our vibrant LGBTQ+ WhatsApp channel is a hub for all the latest news and important issues that face the LGBTQ+ community. Simply click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! Don't forget to turn on notifications! Portia shipped her horses across the Atlantic. Ellen Instagrammed her runaway sheep. Meanwhile, millions of people fleeing real persecution – including other LGBTQ+ people from countries far less safe than the US – are met with suspicion, bureaucracy, and deportation. The decision for Ellen to leave, then, is understandable (Picture: Instagram @ellendegeneres) In March, it was reported that Venezuelan gay asylum seeker Andry José Hernández Romero was deemed a 'security threat' to the US, seemingly for the crime of having two crown tattoos – a symbol that is commonly associated with the country's biggest gang. He was sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador as part of Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign. A US judge scolded Trump in April for these types of deportations that she said 'shocks the conscience'. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page Migrants seeking protection from Central American gangs or anti-LGBTQ+ militias are routinely detained in ICE's third-world condition facilities for months, sometimes years. Children have died in custody. And under Trump, the asylum system has been weaponised beyond recognition, with fast-track removals and no due process now common practice. And before you all start commenting nonsense about how I'm just a 'loony liberal' who wants 'uncontrolled open borders', that is not the point (nor what I'm arguing). This is simply the reality of the landscape Ellen left behind – and never mentioned, from what I can see. Under Trump, the asylum system has been weaponised beyond recognition (Picture: Olivier TOURON / AFP) (Photo by OLIVIER TOURON/AFP via Getty Images) There was no nod to the brutality of US immigration. No solidarity expressed with those who are trapped by the very systems she's able to sidestep – just what appears to me to be a soft focus on village charm, polite locals, and snow. Ellen is right. Things are bad and getting worse in the United States. But that doesn't make her decision to flee politically brave. It makes it personal – and deeply privileged. And the moral collapse doesn't stop at the border – the same border where an eight-year-old girl died in custody after being denied medical care. All while the nodding dogs in the Republican Party cheer him on. A country that once fought with us to defend democracy and liberate our allies abroad now shrugs at genocide. Its leader calls political opponents 'vermin', echoing fascist leaders at rallies, and chooses Putin over freedom. Ellen's tale of 'simpler' life in the Cotswolds plays like a lifestyle rebrand (Picture: Instagram @ellendegeneres) The decision for Ellen to leave, then, is understandable, but only the rich and famous Americans who can afford to just 'stay here' could have the gall to frame it as noble. When others try to escape violence or discrimination, they're branded criminals, illegals, or queue-jumpers. There is a version of this story that could be empowering, but Ellen's tale of 'simpler' life in the Cotswolds plays like a lifestyle rebrand. As Ellen says, she's blunt. So here's some bluntness back: immigration is not a whimsical fantasy. It's a brutal, bureaucratic, often heartbreaking process, even for the average middle-class. Until everyone has the same right to safety that she and Portia exercised without blinking, we should stop pretending that celebrity moves like this are acts of bravery. They're not. They're acts of gross privilege – plain and simple. Things are bad and getting worse in the United States (Picture:for Live Nation) But, hey, listen, I get it. I also love our messy, over-apologetic, queue-loving little island too. The weather's grey, the trains are late, and somehow Farage made it into Parliament, but at our core, we're diverse, tolerant, and welcoming. We didn't hesitate to stand up to Putin, opened our arms to refugees, led on abortion rights and equal marriage, and still serve as the world's moral compass. Anyone who comes to our great country – and integrates – contributes, pays their taxes, and participates in our shared civic life is more than welcome. After all, that is who we are as a country. Let's not risk that by becoming a sanctuary of celebrity convenience. Instead, let's stick to welcoming people who will integrate, contribute, and enrich our communities. Because in the end, it's those people – not the privileged few – who truly reflect the best of who we are. Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing Share your views in the comments below. Arrow MORE: Molly-Mae Hague 'has no life' – I don't feel sorry for her Arrow MORE: Donald Trump's attorney general will 'reach out to' Ghislaine Maxwell over Epstein files Arrow MORE: MasterChef has missed a trick with its 'safe choice' new hosts
Spectator
2 days ago
- Spectator
Superman has always been ‘woke'
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And, y'know, our hero stops one country with a very well-funded military from invading its armed-with-sticks-and-stones neighbours (it's Israel/Palestine! No: it's Russia/Ukraine!… or maybe it is, even more insidious, a general principle). And the villain is a megalomaniac tech billionaire, which comic book villains have been since long before megalomaniac tech billionaires actually became comic book villains. All comic book properties these days are positively marinated in nostalgia But if you think that broad-brush comic book endorsements of defending the weak against the strong, or objecting to rolling tanks over people armed with sticks and stones, or any suggestion that undocumented aliens can be human too, constitutes 'woke propaganda', you need to give your head a bit of a wobble. If standing up for 'truth, justice and the American way' strikes you as unfairly partisan, we may have to start wondering what principles we're allowed to give goodies in movies. I thought it was the left that these guys liked to accuse of moral relativism. Also, I can't wait to tell you about Jesus. Does it need repeating for the zillionth time that by these standards, Superman has always been 'woke'? That he was the creation of two nerdy Jewish boys whose families fled European anti-Semitism, that he made his debut just before the second world war made its debut, and that opposition to fascism was kind of his big thing? Do we have to dig out all those spot-coloured panels from half a century ago in which Superman piously lectures passers-by about how un-American it is to discriminate against people on the grounds of race, creed or colour? The more interesting and more subtle question, I think, is not to do with the predictable conniptions that this children's movie has caused in pantwetting Maga influencers of a certain stripe. It is, rather, that of whether superhero movies (and comics) are by their nature not 'woke' but, at a deep level, what the young people would call fascist-coded. There's a decent case that they are. Their narrative roots are in the oral mythologies of the pre-democratic, pre-Christian world. They are myths, and their heroes are spandex-clad godlings, and their basic message is that humanity needs the vigilante violence of near-invincible individuals, answerable only to themselves, to keep it on the straight and narrow. Comic book universes and superhero stories offer the fantasy of a world in which problems are simple to solve through violence, and the goodies and baddies are painted in bold bright colours – the same fantasy populist and, at the extreme of this tendency, fascist politics depend on. It can't have escaped anyone that 'superman' is the most common translation of Nietzsche's 'Ubermensch' – and we know who loved that idea. Also, all comic book properties these days are positively marinated in nostalgia – the nostalgia of the grown adults who encounter them now for the pristine thrill of their childhood encounters with these characters (I don't mind admitting that includes me). And nostalgia is a cornerstone of fascism – a fantasy of returning to a simpler, purer world before the wokes or the postmodernists or the feminists or the rootless cosmopolitans ruined it for everyone. All these, be it said, are points that the more intelligent writers of superhero comics have repeatedly addressed. Marvel's Civil War plotline (somewhat adapted for the Avengers movie) addressed the vigilante question: unexpectedly and interestingly, Captain America (Marvel's own big blue schoolboy), comes out in the no-democratic-oversight corner, while Iron Man goes to bat for democratic oversight and the military-industrial complex. Alan Moore's Watchmen – named for its on-the-nose evocation of Juvenal ('quis custodiet…') – had looked at just the same issue some years earlier. It concluded that anyone who wanted to set the world to rights by dressing up in a cape and mask and beating spit out of the bad guys deserved a psychological once-over. And it's no accident that 'Nostalgia' was the brand name of the villain's perfume. At the same time as that, back in the late 1980s, Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns drew thrilling power from the mythic grandeur of its set-up, without stinting on the darker aspects of that set-up's appeal: Bats, in despair at juvenile delinquents and liberal apologists for the Joker, comes out of retirement to beat and murder these unwelcome avatars of modernity. (Frank Miller's later politics suggest that he may have got a bit too high on his own supply.) So we can rebuke comics for peddling dangerously simplistic narratives of violent redress by godlike creatures answering to nothing so boring as democracy or the rule of law. But at the same time, I'd suggest we should also step back and – rather than getting our knickers in a twist about whether they are woke propaganda or fascist myth-making – sidestep the whole thing by recognising that they are children's entertainments. Children's entertainments can and should be enjoyed by grown-ups too, but their moral outlooks only make a difference in the world when those grown-ups are childish enough to think that they need to. I took my 11-year-old. What's your excuse?
Scottish Sun
5 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Sweet-toothed Camilla treats grandchildren to posh ice-cream tasting session with some VERY wacky flavours
Insiders revealed the Queen was not a fan of certain flavoured iced treat CAMILLA ICE Sweet-toothed Camilla treats grandchildren to posh ice-cream tasting session with some VERY wacky flavours Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE Queen took home hundreds of pounds worth of ice cream after blind tasting odd flavours including pickled onion and gravy. It came after Her Majesty treated her grandchildren to a £45-a-head tester session at a wacky West London parlour this week. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 8 The Queen took home hundreds of pounds worth of ice cream after blind tasting odd flavours including pickled onion and gravy Credit: Getty 8 The Queen's grandchildren Credit: Mark Stewart Photography 8 The Anya Hindmarch store, Belgravia, London Credit: Andrew Styczynski The royal and her family were handed a pen and paper and had to guess the flavours of iced treats infused with olive oil, sriracha hot sauce and biscuits. She was so taken by some of the flavours, she left with boxes of goodies — including £4.50 single scoops of Ovaltine and Club Orange flavoured ice creams. But insiders revealed the Queen was not a fan of the pickled onion flavoured iced delights. Camilla takes her grandchildren from her first marriage — Lola, Freddy, Eliza and twins Louis and Gus — for a fun treat each year. Their blind tasting at the Anya Hindmarch store, Belgravia, came just two days before the Queen's 78th birthday on Thursday. A source said: 'Camilla and her grandchildren had a great time tasting all of the strange flavours. But Camilla didn't fancy tasting the pickled onion ice cream. Afterwards she bought a lot of treats for her grandchildren and left with a scoop of Club Orange and another of Ovaltine, both for herself.' The trendy ice cream parlour has attracted a long list of celebrity visitors including former England captain Sir David Beckham and Harry Potter star Rupert Grint. Telly presenter Gaby Roslin was there yesterday, joining Eastenders actress pal Harriet Thorpe. Gaby said: 'I come here every year and the ice cream flavours are insane. It's absolutely amazing and there are so many to choose from.' Harriet, who plays Elaine Peacock in the soap, said: 'Both Gaby and I love the sriracha flavour, it's got a real kick to it. It's crazy good.' Queen thanks Novak Djokovic for letting her stay in his 'lovely' property in 'private' chat at Wimbledon For £45 a person, visitors can try 15 flavours in the Ice Cream Project Blind Tasting Tea until September 7. Unusual flavours include Irn-Bru, Bird's Custard, Bisto Gravy, Copella Cloudy Apple Juice, Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Flying Goose Sriracha. Other wacky ones on offer are Garner's Pickled Onions, Maldon Sea Salt sorbet, McVitie's Club Orange, McVitie's Milk Chocolate HobNobs, Ovaltine, Quaker Oats, Romney's Kendal Mint Cake, Rowse Honey and Jacob's Twiglets. The store is primarily a quirky fashion business and also sells a range of bags and trinkets, including Heinz Baked Beans candles for £95, a £1,295 After Eight mints tote bag and a Mr Muscle duster silk scarf for £195. IS POSH NOSH TOSH FOR DOSH? SWEET treats shop The Ice Cream Project by Anya Hindmarch has gone viral with its weird and wonderful scoops. Zara Qureshi braved the queues in Belgravia for a £16-a-tub taste test… BISTO GRAVY - 2/5 A WEIRD one, but not totally off-putting. It's got a warm, salty kick that's just right. 8 Bisto Gravy ends up being oddly tasty without being a total shock to the system Credit: Andrew Styczynski It is not too much but not too little either. It ends up being oddly tasty without being a total shock to the system. GARNER'S PICKLED ONION - 1/5 The smell hits you before the taste, with unexpected onion bits that take you by surprise. The sourness clashes with the sweetness, which is unusual since I normally like onion sauces. 8 Garner's Pickled Onion smell hits you before the taste Credit: Ian Whittaker Overall, a horrid flavour. QUAKER PORRIDGE OATS - 3/5 Chewy, chunky and unapologetically hearty. It's a good thing I skipped breakfast because this is more meal than treat. 8 Quaker Porridge Oats were chewy, chunky and unapologetically hearty Credit: Andrew Styczynski The sweet vanilla base and oaty, coarse texture easily doubles as breakfast. FLYING GOOSE SRIRACHA - 4/5 AS a spicy food addict, I thought I'd tried it all, but this was a first. It starts off cold and sweet, lulling you into comfort, then suddenly hits with a fiery kick of garlic. 8 Flying Goose Sriracha starts off cold and sweet, lulling you into comfort, then suddenly hits with a fiery kick of garlic Credit: Andrew Styczynski The contrast is definitely unexpected. JACOB'S TWIGLETS - 4/5 I thought this would be awful, but it pulled off a sweet-and-salty surprise — like American bacon waffles with syrup. Slightly Marmite-y and yeasty, it had a softened crunch which made it unexpectedly delicious.
