A Brazilian influencer said she was living “nightmare” days after being arrested at immigration at Los Angeles airport in the United States last December. Josiane Domingos, known as “Jojo” on social media, reported that she was stuck in immigration for three days and was deported without any justification.
— It was the worst trauma of my life — says the Brazilian on her TikTok account.
In a series of videos posted to the platform, the influencer claims she intended to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve with friends in Los Angeles but was approached by agents as soon as she disembarked and was taken to immigration authorities.
Jojo, who is a naturalized Portuguese and lives in London, has a European passport and the necessary visa to visit the US.
— Right at immigration, they took my cell phone and said that if they found anything, they would prevent my entry into the United States. Remember I had my return ticket to London (where I live), accommodation and money, which is what immigration requires. but for her [imigração] What matters is that I’m Latina. he says.
In the video, she also tells that she had panic attacks during the flight and at one point even got help from the flight attendant with oxygen masks.
— After catching the flight to Los Angeles, I had several panic attacks on the plane. They were so strong that the stewardess had to give me oxygen because I couldn’t breathe,” he recalls.
Jojo explains that the immigration officer informed her that she was going to lose her visa because she was “a suspect”, sparking a new crisis for the influencer, who was detained by the police and sent to another department, where she was kept for three days stayed.
— After the immigration officer said that I could not enter the United States and would lose my visa because I was “suspicious,” I had a panic attack and they just handcuffed me to the immigration level. Then they took me to another branch of the Immigration Bureau, where I was interrogated for three days.
Even if she bought a new ticket for the return journey to London, she was again prevented from boarding. The influencer said she only managed to return to the city where she lives three days after the episode. According to Jojo, she spent around three thousand pounds, which is almost R$17,000, between spending on tickets and reservations that went unused.
— I tried to explain to him several times that there was a misunderstanding and that I would not spend Christmas in the immigration office and that it was inhumane.[…] I was stuck there in the immigration office in the middle of the Christmas season. — he remembers.