Canadian detained for 11 days by U.S. immigration speaks out for others stuck in limbo
CBC
Jasmine Mooney's smile went viral after 35-year-old Canadian was taken into U.S. custody at the Mexican border in March, but her story is now whispered in fear.
On March 3, Mooney tried to get her work visa renewed, entering at an immigration office at the Mexico-San Diego border, against a U.S. lawyer's advice. Instead she ended up being denied, and then, all of a sudden, detained.
Mooney spent 11 days in custody — off and on in cement cells she says are dubbed "ice boxes" — with little more than a thin foil emergency blanket. Mooney says she faced numerous transfers, humiliating medical tests, degrading treatment and no answers — despite pleas to let her pay for her own flight home.
She at first refused food and couldn't sleep, but then forced herself to get up and help others.
"It breaks you. That place breaks you into a million pieces. It is so disgusting what goes on in there," Mooney told CBC News in an interview on Thursday.
Her case is one of a series of instances involving non-U.S. travellers that has travellers and legal experts concerned.
Mooney's story has become a sort of warning, a harbinger of a shifting attitude toward Canadians travelling or trying to work in the U.S.
Immigration lawyers are urging people who need visa renewals to opt to go to airports, where they can be processed on Canadian soil, with no risk of getting detained if they are deemed ineligible.
Mooney's Blaine, Wash.-based immigration lawyer Ken Saunders said her case is scaring Canadian travellers.
"It has a huge chilling effect on Canadians going to the United States," said Saunders.
He advised her not to try to reapply for her visa at a Mexican entry point, given changes he saw under the new Trump administration.
"She wasn't trying to do anything illegal. She thought she was doing the right thing," said Saunders.
"I've never seen a Canadian citizen who's applied for a work visa, either a brand new one or a renewal, being detained like this."
Mooney was at one point held at a San Diego-area prison where a Chinese inmate offered up her phone time enabling Mooney to get her plea out to at least one reporter. At that point, she had no idea that her story had gone viral and so many people were fighting for her freedom. She was released within a few days and left feeling "lucky."
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Continued investments in affordable housing should be a priority for the next federal government if any progress is to be made on the homelessness crisis in Thunder Bay, the executive director of a community organization said.
A former fare inspector for Metrolinx says enforcing the rules around accessible parking spots at GO stations was not a priority for the transit agency during his time there.
"Welcome to my campaign office," Val Neekman says as he opens the trunk of his car.
With just days to go until Canadians head to the polls to vote in the federal election, candidates across P.E.I. are hitting the campaign trail in an effort to become — or remain — a member of Parliament. To make sense of who's running for which party and where, CBC P.E.I. spoke to the candidates running in each of the province's four ridings.
Students at Yellowknife's St. Patrick High School had a chance to meet some of the N.W.T.'s federal election candidates on Thursday and ask questions about things that matter to them, including the cost of living, the drug crisis and community safety.
Through a fluke of timing, the federal election coincides almost perfectly with the one-year anniversary of the government-owned Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion coming online — at a time when public sentiment around pipelines is relatively positive.
Cannabis has been legal in Canada since 2018 and yet the Marijuana Party — which was formed to champion legalization — is still running two candidates in this election.
If Mark Carney is to lead his Liberal Party to its fourth straight term in government, seats in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area will form the backbone of his win.
The City of London is looking to streamline approvals for large-scale housing developments in a bid to get more units built faster.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump did bring up the prospect of Canada becoming the 51st state during their March 28 call, while insisting Trump did show respect for the country as a sovereign nation.
A coroner's inquest into the death of a Fredericton-area man two years ago heard today about the tense moments as sheriffs and paramedics tried to revive a prisoner who had gone into cardiac arrest while en route to the Saint John jail.
The province has asked Manitoba's auditor general to review a $100-million daycare construction project initiated by the previous Progressive Conservative government in partnership with a company which paid millions of dollars to a separate company co-owned by the director of the PCs' 2023 re-election campaign.
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre made his first appearance in Saskatchewan during this election period on Thursday evening.