Meet Júnior Pena: Professional-Trump Brazilian influencer who mentioned solely ‘crooks’ get deported is detained by ICE – The Occasions of India – Worldwide Dispatch

A Brazilian influencer who publicly supported US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has been detained by US immigration authorities, regardless of beforehand insisting that solely criminals have been focused for deportation.Júnior Pena, whose full identify is Eustáquio da Silva Pena Júnior, was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Saturday in New Jersey, in response to Brazilian outlet Brazilian Occasions. Pena is thought for his pro-Trump views and for posting movies about life in the US as an immigrant.A supply informed the outlet that Pena’s detention was on account of an administrative situation involving an immigration listening to. The listening to had reportedly been postponed, however the change was not correctly recorded within the system, main authorities to mark Pena as absent when he didn’t attend.Pena has a big on-line following, with round 1.3 million followers on TikTok and almost 500,000 on Instagram. On his platforms, he typically described the “actuality of the USA” and brazenly voiced assist for Trump.After Trump assumed workplace for his second time period, the president promised an immigration crackdown that centered closely on Latin American immigrants in its first six months. Throughout that interval, Pena informed his Brazilian viewers that these being focused have been criminals.“I needed to let you know to not be so scared, there are lots of individuals scared. There are a lot of influencers spreading concern amongst immigrants with out having information, proof, or proof that so-and-so was deported,” Pena mentioned in a single video. He additionally claimed that these detained have been “crooks.”The crackdown has led to the deaths of two Americans named Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and triggered protests towards ICE throughout a number of states.In accordance with a December report citing Brazil’s Federal Police, 2,268 Brazilian nationals have been deported from the US in 2025, the very best quantity recorded since information assortment started in 2020.Pena got here to the US in 2009 and is at the moment being held at Delaney Corridor Detention Middle in Newark whereas his lawyer, Andrew Lattarulo, works to dam his switch to a different state.His detention has sparked robust reactions on-line, with social media accusing him of “self-sabotage” and warning that he promoted an unrealistic model of the American dream. A GoFundMe marketing campaign was launched to cowl authorized and court docket prices, reaching its $32,000 aim by Monday.