ICE detains Daniela Bittner, late Peanut the Squirrel’s owner; social media model faces possible deportation to Germany

The Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump has put Daniela Bittner, one of the late Peanut the Squirrel’s owners, in an immigration jail, NBC News reported. She is now facing possible deportation to Germany.Immigration officers arrested Daniela Bittner in mid-October at a small airport near New York’s border with Pennsylvania. (TikTok/inked_goddess_)The euthanisation of Peanut the Squirrel in 2024 triggered a national outrage.What we know about Daniela Bittner and her detentionImmigration officers arrested Bittner in mid-October at a small airport near New York’s border with Pennsylvania. DHS said in a statement that Bittner was arrested because she “chose to overstay her welcome in defiance of our nation’s laws.”Bittner, 30, was nabbed by ICE because she is an undocumented German national who “overstayed her welcome,” the Department of Homeland Security said, per the New York Post.Bittner, a social media model who also posted on OnlyFans, was taken into custody last month after entering the United legally several years ago, according to DHS. She had been living with her husband at the upstate Pine City animal sanctuary that they ran. “On October 15, 2026, ICE arrested Daniela Bittner, an illegal alien from Germany, at the Elmira Corning Regional Airport. She will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings and will receive due process,” a DHS spokesperson said, according to the outlet.“Between May 2021 and November 2022, Bittner lawfully entered the country multiple times with permission to stay for a temporary period. She chose to overstay her welcome in defiance of our nation’s laws,” the spokesperson continued.“To be clear, a pending application does not confer legal status in the United States,” they added.Since then, Bittner has been moved through several immigration lockups. She is now housed in Texas, her husband Mark Longo said, per NBC News. He said that conditions in the lockups are “deplorable” and went on to blame her detention on an immigration paperwork mix-up.Also Read | Why did New York euthanise Peanut the Squirrel? Assemblyman introduces 'Peanut's Law'“They put Peanut on a pedestal, won their election and threw him off that pedestal immediately,” Longo said.“I’m begging the world to find an answer as to why this keeps happening to me,” he told The Associated Press. “One time, you can call it what it is. Two times, it’s now becoming a little bit more of a target.”According to Longo, he and Bittner made a mistake on one of her immigration forms. They failed to catch the error while dealing with the chaos around 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 further said that officials have been looking into Bittner’s case. He added that he has spoken about her arrest to UFC chief Dana White, a Trump ally whom Longo said he met after Peanut was taken.Longo added that he will be forced 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.What happened to Peanut?Peanut, a social media star, was euthanised to test for rabies, according to a statement from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Chemung County Department of Health. The statement added that a person who is now involved in the confiscation investigation had been bitten by Peanut.The New York Department of Environmental Conservation confiscated Peanut from his home in Pine City, New York, because of "multiple reports from the public about the potentially unsafe housing of wildlife that could carry rabies and illegal keeping of wildlife as pets," the department said, according to USA Today. The beloved squirrel was Longo’s pet for the past seven years.Also Read | Peanut the Squirrel honoured at memorial service, owner says its death ‘played a part’ in Donald Trump's victoryLongo said at the time that New York's decision to confiscate and euthanise Peanut was a “disgrace.” A raccoon called Fred, also taken from Longo’s home, was euthanised too."What happened today and what transpired throughout this week has been nothing short of a tragedy and a disgrace to the New York state," Longo told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo in 2024. "We used resources from this state to kill a squirrel and raccoon and raid my house as if I was a drug dealer. We have resources to kill a raccoon and a squirrel, but we can't fix the major bridges down the street? I am appalled."