Eustáquio da Silva Pena Júnior, a Brazilian influencer, has been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New Jersey.
Pena, known for publicly supporting President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policies and insisting that the crackdown targeted only criminals, was taken into custody by ICE agents and transferred to the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, according to reports.
A friend told the Brazilian Times newspaper that Pena was taken into custody after missing a court hearing. His lawyer, Andrew Lattarulo, was reportedly working to resolve the case and prevent him from being transferred to another state.
The rightwing influencer, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram, had recently posted videos backing Trump’s immigration policies. “I [support] Donald Trump. I like the guy,” said Pena, whose social media content claims to show “the reality of the United States” from a migrant’s point of view.
In an earlier video, Pena urged Brazilians not to panic amid reports of ICE operations targeting migrants, including Brazilians. “But they’re all crooks. A lot of them,” he said of those being detained.
ICE arrests Brazilian influencer Júnior Pena as Trump’s immigration push continues to affect the United States’ estimated 2 million Brazilian residents. Pena has reportedly lived in the US since 2009 and is originally from Belo Horizonte, the capital of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, a major source of Brazilian migration to the US and Europe.
Pena’s online content often amplifies migrant stories while criticising Brazil’s leftwing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and backing former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of Trump.
Trump’s immigration enforcement has led to a sharp rise in deportations of Brazilians, with 2,785 deported last year, up from 1,640 in 2024. Brazilian magazine Veja recently described a “veritable manhunt,” warning that people who “look foreign” could be targeted regardless of immigration status.
The magazine reported that some Brazilian migrants, particularly in cities such as Boston, were avoiding speaking Portuguese in public and altering their appearance to blend in.
Following news of Pena’s detention, leftwing Brazilians flooded his social media accounts with criticism, while friends of the influencer asked followers to pray for him.
(The Guardian UK)
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