'Tan Mom' Says ICE Agents Questioned Her Citizenship and Nearly Handcuffed Her Over Her Dark Tan
The New Jersey tabloid figure told a podcast that agents stopped her outside a restaurant. It is her own account, and a Fox host's segment cast doubt on it.
Patricia Krentcil, the New Jersey woman known as "Tan Mom," says federal immigration agents stopped her and asked about her citizenship because of her deep tan, Fox News reports.
Her account. Krentcil told the story on her podcast "Light. Tan. Up." with actor Tom Arnold as a guest. According to Fox, she said ICE agents stopped her as she left a restaurant with girlfriends and asked whether she was a U.S. citizen. "And I told them, 'Yes,'" she recalled, and said the moment left her stunned. TMZ, which reported the story Oct. 21, says she claimed the situation nearly escalated to handcuffs because of her complexion. Fox's piece frames it as her accusing the agents of racism.
The doubts. Fox's "Gutfeld!" posted a segment titled "Doubt cast on a 'Tan Mom' ICE tale." We have not seen that segment and do not know what doubts it raised.
What is missing. Neither Fox's summary nor the TMZ snippet we read gives a date, a location or a restaurant, and neither includes a response from ICE or DHS. We could not verify that any stop took place.
Note for readers: this is one person's claim from a podcast. We have not confirmed it independently, and we relied on Fox's headline and opening paragraphs and TMZ's summary, not the full podcast.