What was going to be a family trip to celebrate her mother's birthday ended up becoming a detention that has already lasted over a month. The Brazilian actress Renata Alves Mietto, 26 years old, was intercepted on August 27 at Los Angeles airport when she was about to fly to Hawaii. According to her mother, Márcia Rilda Alves dos Reis, Renata had passed through security checks normally and was already at the boarding gate when she was approached by undercover agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The case has begun to gain attention in Brazil after the family made the situation public. Renata was not trying to enter or leave the United States: the flight between Los Angeles and Hawaii was domestic. The reason for her detention is related, according to her mother, to the fact that the young woman had lost her regular immigration status approximately two years prior. The family maintains that this situation occurred after receiving incorrect legal advice.
She arrived in the United States at 16 years old
Renata moved to the United States in 2016, when she was 16 years old. There she completed her high school education and later studied Performing Arts at Utah Valley University, in the state of Utah. Just over three years ago, she settled in Los Angeles to develop her professional career and try to make a place for herself in the U.S. audiovisual industry.
Her resume includes a role as an actress in "The Cool Kids", a 2021 short film in which she is credited in the role of Val. It should not be confused with the American television series of the same name aired years earlier. Her professional profile also presents her as an actress, singer, and model.
However, acting is not her only activity. At the same time, Mietto started a cleaning business in Los Angeles that, according to her family, currently employs more than 20 people. Her mother claims that Renata's professional goal was still to achieve a stable career as a film actress.
What happened at Los Angeles airport
The detention occurred on August 27, when Renata was going to travel with her family to Hawaii to celebrate her mother's birthday. According to Márcia, the young woman used her passport to identify herself, passed through security, and reached the boarding area. There she was intercepted by ICE agents dressed in plain clothes.
The family assures that they did not expect that a migration action could occur during an internal journey. "We thought that, in the matter of taking flights, they were only stopping those who had some kind of crime," explained her mother to RFI. The statement reflects what the family believed, although U.S. legislation allows ICE to carry out administrative detentions for immigration issues without necessarily having a criminal charge. The agency itself distinguishes its civil arrests from criminal proceedings and explains that it can keep certain individuals in custody while their immigration procedure or eventual expulsion is resolved.
This nuance is important in Mietto's case. The available information and her family maintain that she has no criminal record and is not detained for committing a crime, but for her immigration status. An ICE detention can be part of an administrative immigration procedure and does not itself equate to a criminal conviction.
From Los Angeles to Adelanto and then to Texas
After being detained, Renata was initially transferred to a center in Los Angeles and later to the detention center in Adelanto, California, where she remained for more than 20 days. During that period, her relatives and lawyers tried to obtain that she could continue her immigration procedure outside the center.
On September 18, a hearing was held in which the defense requested her release while the case was resolved. The request was denied. The available information, based mainly on the family account, indicates that the decision was justified by considering that there was a risk that advised keeping her in custody, although the complete resolution with all its grounds has not been publicly disclosed.
The next day, Mietto was transferred from California to El Paso, Texas, where she remains detained. Her mother has reported that during the transfer she was handcuffed for hours on her feet, hands, and waist, with difficulties in drinking water or going to the bathroom, and that some of her belongings did not appear after the trip. She also claims that her daughter suffered swelling in her legs and feet. These are allegations made by the family that, so far, have not been publicly corroborated by ICE.
Why she lost her immigration status
The central issue is the administrative situation of the actress. According to her mother, Renata lost her regular residency status about two years ago after following legal advice that the family considers incorrect. The details of the permit she had previously and the procedure that led to the loss of that status have not been published with sufficient precision to determine exactly what happened.
Being out of immigration status can make a person susceptible to an expulsion procedure, but that does not automatically mean having committed a criminal offense. ICE defines its detention system as civil immigration custody and states that it is used, among other reasons, to ensure that certain individuals appear in immigration proceedings and, when appropriate, facilitate their departure from the United States.
The family insists precisely on that difference. Márcia argues that her daughter "committed no crime" and considers it disproportionate that she has been deprived of her freedom for more than a month solely due to her administrative situation.
Now seeking a voluntary departure from the United States
After more than a month in detention, the defense's objective would have changed. According to her mother's account, Renata is requesting to be able to voluntarily leave the United States, an option that would allow her to resolve her stay in the country without continuing to prolong the detention while the procedure is processed. The young woman, according to her family, would prefer not to leave after having built practically her entire adult life in the United States.
Before leaving, she would at least like to return to her home to collect her belongings and organize her departure. Her mother has recalled that Renata has her job, a business, her personal belongings, and even a rabbit that has been with her for six years. Meanwhile, the family continues trying to obtain authorization to visit her at the Texas detention center.
A case amid the tightening of immigration controls
The detention occurs in a context of increased ICE activity at U.S. airports. Gisele Ambrósio, an immigration attorney and legal collaborator of the Brazilian Consulate in Los Angeles cited by RFI, states that since June, the number of detentions at airports has significantly increased, including those made of individuals preparing to take domestic flights.
The ICE itself points out that its agents can detain individuals subject to immigration control measures and decide whether they remain in custody during the process or are released under some supervision mechanism. The agency also maintains a public system to locate individuals who are in its centers and subsequently check the status of their proceedings before immigration courts.
Renata Mietto has been in custody since August 27, first in California and now in Texas. Behind the actress who was trying to build a career in Hollywood lies a much more complex immigration story: she arrived as a minor, studied and worked for a decade in the United States, subsequently lost her regular status, and was detained when she was simply about to take a flight within the country. More than five weeks later, her future now depends on an immigration procedure that may end with her departure from the United States.