B.C. woman detained at U.S. border, sent to Arizona in chains, to be transferred Friday​on March 14, 2025 at 5:12 pm

A B.C. woman was detained at the U.S. border over an incomplete work visa and detained for more than a week is being transferred back to San Ysidro near San Diego, her mother said Friday.

Jasmine Mooney, a 35-year-old business consultant and co-founder of a drink brand, has been detained for 12 days, most recently in Arizona, under what Alexis Eagles describes as “inhumane conditions,” with no clear explanation of why she was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Her family is anxious and sleep-deprived given the tensions between the U.S. and Canada and the lack of communication with U.S. officials.

Eagles, who lives in Abbotsford, said Friday morning that she’s still holding her breath but views the decision to transfer her daughter from Arizona back to the facility in San Ysidro as “a good step.”

“We have confirmed with officials that we will pay for her flight,” she said Friday morning, adding that the transfer could be a sign she might be put on a flight out of the U.S. in San Diego.

Eagles said, however, that the family still has no confirmation that she will be sent home soon and they haven’t been told why she is being transferred back to San Diego.

“We won’t know anything until just before she boards a flight,” she said, adding the family plans not to make her departure time public to avoid a crowd at the airport.

“This has been a draining and very stressful experience for her … she will be exhausted.”

Mooney had been working in the U.S. but had been most recently in Mexico and was detained at the huge San Ysidro U.S.-Mexico border crossing near San Diego, Calif., on March 3.

After spending three nights in detention at San Ysidro, Mooney was transferred to a facility in San Diego, then to the San Luis Regional Detention Center south of Yuma, Arizona, where she has since been sleeping on the floor of a cell alongside nearly 30 other women.

Her mom said that each time her daughter was transferred, she was handcuffed and in chains.

Eagles told Postmedia Thursday that an immigration lawyer was finally able to reach Mooney, but despite having no criminal record and facing no charges, Mooney remains in custody with no clear timeline for release.

However, she is now “cautiously optimistic” they won’t have to wait long. “We believe she will come home this weekend sometime,” Eagles said Friday.

From detention, Mooney spoke with ABC News 10 on Wednesday, describing the freezing conditions and overcrowding at the facility.