Peanut the squirrel’s former owner has been detained by ICE and could be deported

PINE CITY, N.Y. (AP) — When New York wildlife officers euthanized a couple’s pet squirrel, Peanut, two years ago, Republicans including JD Vance seized on the critter’s killing as just another example of government overreach from meddling Democrats.

“The same government that doesn’t care about hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant criminals coming into our country doesn’t want us to have pets. It’s the craziest, the craziest thing,” Vance said at a rally just before the 2024 election.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump has put one of the late squirrel’s owners in an immigration jail, pending possible deportation to Germany.

Daniela Bittner was arrested by immigration officers in mid-October at a small airport near New York’s border with Pennsylvania. DHS issued a statement saying Bittner was arrested because she “chose to overstay her welcome in defiance of our nation’s laws.”

Since then, Bittner has been moved through multiple immigration lockups and is now housed in Texas, according to her husband, Mark Longo, who called conditions in the lockups “deplorable.” He blamed her detention on an immigration paperwork mix-up.

“They put Peanut on a pedestal, won their election, and threw him off that pedestal immediately,” Longo said.

The arrest was the latest twist in the tale of Peanut, also known as P’nut, a once-orphaned squirrel whose fun antics made him a social media star. That is, until state officials got multiple complaints that the couple were illegally keeping wild animals in their house as pets, including the squirrel and a racoon.

During one inspection, Peanut bit the gloved thumb of a wildlife biologist and was euthanized so the squirrel could be tested for rabies.

News stories about the episode earned the family sympathy and caught the attention of Republicans on the campaign trail, who criticized the state’s response and New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul.

Longo said he tries to steer clear of politics, but that he can’t help but feel like the government keeps wading into his life.

“I’m begging the world to find an answer as to why this keeps happening to me,” he told The Associated Press by phone Wednesday. “One time, you can call it what it is. Two times, it’s now becoming a little bit more of a target.”

Longo said he and Bittner made a mistake on one of her immigration forms and didn’t catch the error while they were dealing with the dustup over Peanut’s seizure and killing.

“You know, arrest the people who deserve to be arrested. My wife is not one of them,” he said.

“You’re telling me, all of this because my wife and I forgot to do the proper form?” he added.

Longo said local officials have been looking into his wife’s case and that he’s spoken about her arrest to UFC chief Dana White, a longstanding ally of President Donald Trump whom Longo said he met after Peanut was taken.

Longo said he will have to shut down the animal sanctuary he and his wife run if she is deported.

“The only outcome that will save this place is my wife not being deported,” he said.