Trump supporter Júnior Pena falsely claimed migrants being rounded up, including Brazilians, were ‘all crooks’

Trump supporter Júnior Pena falsely claimed migrants being rounded up, including Brazilians, were ‘all crooks’

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.

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.

  • ChicoSuave@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    4 hours ago

    Pena uses his social networks to echo the stories of migrants as well as voices critical of Brazil’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and those supportive of its recently jailed former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is an ally of Trump.

    The US’s estimated 2 million-strong Brazilian community has been badly affected by Trump’s anti-migrant offensive, with the number of deported Brazilians hitting a record high of 2,785 last year, compared with 1,640 in 2024.

    Well, it is the story of migrants.

    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.

    True journalism is not reporting the pulse but the movement of the heart. He’s so close to the source because he’s the problem.