March 1Mar 1 Active Members https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/02/rightwing-brazilian-influencer-junior-pena-arrested-by-ice "A rightwing Brazilian influencer who claimed Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown targeted only “crooks” has been arrested by ICE agents in New Jersey. Júnior Pena, whose full name is Eustáquio da Silva Pena Júnior, declared his support for the US president in a recent video message to his hundreds of thousands of social media followers. “I [support] Donald Trump – I like the guy,” announced the South American TikToker and Instagrammer whose account purports to show “the reality of the United States” from a migrant’s perspective. In a previous video, Pena reportedly urged Brazilians to stay calm and not “despair” after reports that ICE agents were rounding up migrants, including Brazilians. “But they’re all crooks. The lot of them,” he falsely claimed of the migrants being seized. On Saturday, Pena was himself reportedly detained and sent to the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, New Jersey. One friend told the local newspaper the Brazilian Times that Pena had been taken into custody after missing a court hearing. The detainee’s lawyer, Andrew Lattarulo, was reportedly trying to resolve the situation and prevent him being transferred to another state. The Brazilian influencer has reportedly lived in the US since 2009 and hails from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, from where a large number of people have emigrated to the US and Europe...".
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