Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested a woman who owned P’nut the squirrel, who was famously euthanized by the State of New York in 2024.
Daniela Bittner, a 30-year-old from Germany, was taken into ICE custody at Elmira Corning Regional Airport in Chemung County, New York, in October because she “chose to overstay her welcome in defiance of our nation’s laws,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.
Her husband, Mark Longo, said Bittner was detained because of a paperwork mix-up and called the conditions inside immigration detention “deplorable.”
Now, Longo is calling out Republicans, who championed the couple’s story on the campaign trail after Peanut’s euthanasia, and pleading for his wife not to be deported.
During a rally before the 2024 election, JD Vance called out “the same government that doesn’t care about hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals coming into our country” for not wanting “us to have pets.”
“It’s the craziest, the craziest thing,” he said at the time.
“They put Peanut on a pedestal, won their election, and threw him off that pedestal immediately,” Longo said, according to The Associated Press. “I’m begging the world to find an answer as to why this keeps happening to me. One time, you can call it what it is. Two times, it’s now becoming a little bit more of a target.”
“The only outcome that will save this place is my wife not being deported,” he said.
New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) officers searched the couple’s home in 2024 under a warrant and confiscated the famous squirrel and a rescued raccoon named Fred, the couple told TMZ at the time. The animals were later euthanized.
The DEC said it received multiple complaints about potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and about wildlifte being kept illegally as pets. The agency also said that Peanut bit a person involved in the investigation while they were confiscating the squirrel.
“In addition, a person involved with the investigation was bitten by the squirrel. To test for rabies, both animals were euthanized. The animals are being tested for rabies and anyone who has been in contact with these animals is strongly encouraged to consult their physician,” the DEC said in a statement, according to WETM.
Longo said he took Peanut in after seeing the squirrel’s mother get hit by a car in New York City, and kept him for seven years.
