A Canadian woman faces potential deportation after she was charged this week with slapping a teenage girl wearing clothing with “Trump” and “ICE” spelled out on them along the Jersey Shore.
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Point Pleasant Beach police said they arrested Kaitlyn Tracey, 33, on Monday after she was linked to the random assault on the boardwalk, which started with a woman “yelling at the female juvenile over patriotic colored sweatpants with political wording.”
“The female suspect was then seen on video striking the juvenile female, once to the body and once to the face, with an open hand,” authorities said about the July 6 incident.
Police said they charged Ms. Tracey with simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment and obstruction.
Court documents obtained by NJ.com said the suspect was triggered by the teen victim wearing the Trump sweatpants. The girl was ultimately uninjured.
A man named Matthew Geroni, who says on TikTok that he is Ms. Tracey’s husband, said immigration authorities took her into custody.
“I don’t know what to do. My wife is being detained by ICE. She’s in Ocean County jail right now. I can’t get over her,” Mr. Geroni said in the video posted Monday.
In a separate video posted Tuesday, he said his wife was moved to ICE’s Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark.
Ocean County jail records show Ms. Tracey is not in custody. She has a court appearance in the county scheduled for Aug. 4.
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The Washington Times contacted ICE for comment on Ms. Tracey’s detention status.
Mr. Geroni said police told his wife they didn’t have enough to charge her on the day of the alleged attack, so they told her to leave the boardwalk.
Her husband said Ms. Tracey later turned herself in after authorities issued an arrest warrant for the Asbury Park woman.
Mr. Geroni said the couple has been married for over three years and that Ms. Tracey is a Canadian citizen. Court filings confirmed she’s Canadian and she came to the U.S. with her passport in 2024.
“I’m just doing anything I can to get her story heard and bring any help and attention to her situation so that I can get her released, even if that means back to Canada,” her husband said.
While New Jersey has limited how law enforcement can cooperate with ICE since 2018, Ocean County’s Republican-heavy Board of Commissioners has pushed against the mandate in the past.
The county sued the state in 2019 over its updated ICE policy. Last year, former County Commission Director Jack Kelly said the municipality would let ICE probe its jail for illegal immigrants.
It’s unclear if Ocean County is still defying state law after Mr. Kelly, a major backer of President Trump, left the commission at the end of 2025.
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