Daniela Bittner, a German native, and Mark Longo went viral in 2024 with their pet squirrel named “P’nut” — but then someone called New York state authorities, who decapitated P’nut for a rabies test.
But now, Bittner has been locked up in immigration jails across the country for nearly a month, Longo told the New York Post on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
“I really don’t have the words to put together for this caption. [Four] years of marriage, entering the country LEGALLY, filing her I-130 petition, sending additional information. My wife did it all,” Longo wrote while sharing the story on the couple’s Instagram page. “If my wife gets deported for a paperwork issue, we will lose EVERYTHING we worked for.”
The Department of Homeland Security had a different story, telling TMZ that Bittner entered the country legally between May 2021 and November 2022 but overstayed her visa.
Bittner has no criminal history but is facing an administrative deportation case, meaning she can be shipped to Germany at any time without a hearing, the Post reported.
Plainclothes officers arrested Bittner when the couple arrived at an airport near their home in Elmira, NY, on Friday, Oct. 16, Longo told the Post. They were traveling to an influencer event, he said.
“All we wanted was to be left alone. We finally moved on from the tragic murder of Pnut, now to this,” Longo wrote on Instagram. “We built a paradise for animals and unfortunately, were on the brink of losing it all.”
Longo said he was planning to create a fundraiser in hopes of saving the couple’s animal sanctuary.
To read the full story from the New York Post, click here.
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