Canadian who slapped teens wearing MAGA clothing to be deported from US

A Canadian woman who slapped a teenage girl ‘for wearing pro-Donald Trump clothing’ on a New Jersey boardwalk has been ordered to leave the United States.

Kaitlyn Tracey, 33, also admitted one count of assault. She was sentenced to a day in jail but will serve no further time behind bars.

A separate government investigation has now seen Tracey ordered to leave the US after it was ruled she had remained in the country unlawfully.

Footage showed Tracey hitting the teenager twice during a confrontation in Point Pleasant Beach on July 3. She first struck her around the shoulder before slapping her across the face.

The girl was among a group of teenagers wearing patriotic clothing bearing references to Donald Trump and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Police said Tracey approached them while filming on her phone and began shouting about their outfits. The victim wasn’t injured.

Tracey was later identified after investigators studied surveillance footage. She handed herself in when a warrant was issued for her arrest.

She was initially charged with endangering the welfare of a child, assault, harassment and obstruction. Most of those charges were dropped under a deal which saw her plead guilty to just the single charge of misdemeanour simple assault. Prosecutors said the teenager’s family supported the agreement.

Tracey joined Tuesday’s criminal court hearing in Toms River by telephone from an ICE processing center in Laredo, Texas, Daily Mail reports. She’d recently been transferred there from the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark.

Her lawyer, Francis Hodgson, told the court the attack was ‘unfortunate’ and said his client had accepted responsibility.

He also argued that Tracey had worked and contributed to society while living in the US.

Hodgson said: ‘She met her husband and didn’t leave, but while she was [here], she maintained employment and was a productive member of society.

‘She has taken responsibility for her role in it, and this is a reasonable judgment, Judge, that is consistent with other similar-type matters that happen every day during the summer on this boardwalk.’

Tracey was given a one-day jail sentence but received credit for time already spent in custody following her arrest.

Separately, an immigration judge in Texas ordered her deportation to Canada. The Department of Homeland Security said Tracey entered the US on April 14, 2024, and was permitted to remain until September 6 that year. She stayed beyond that date and was therefore in the country unlawfully.

Homeland Security previously dubbed Tracey ‘The Maple Leaf Menace’ in a social media post announcing that she was in ICE custody. The department said she would remain detained while immigration proceedings continued.

Judge Guy P. Ryan, who handled the New Jersey criminal case, read an impact statement submitted by the teenager’s family. It said: ‘Thank goodness for cameras and cell phones to have documented this incident.’

The judge said the attention surrounding the case had shown the family were proud of their country, held ‘core values’ and respected their family history.

He added that they ‘look forward to justice being served, and they thank all the agencies involved’.

Tracey’s husband, Matthew Geroni, has disputed the account surrounding the confrontation.

He claimed the teenagers had been provoking people on the boardwalk and pushed and shoved his wife before the moments captured on camera. Those allegations haven’t been established in court.

Geroni said the short video didn’t show the full encounter. He claimed Tracey had been singled out because her ‘punk’ clothing clashed with what the teenagers were wearing.

He also said officers initially treated the incident as a ‘nothing-burger’ and allowed his wife to leave. A warrant was issued once investigators had reviewed the surveillance footage, prompting Tracey to turn herself in.

Geroni criticised the conditions in which his wife was held at Delaney Hall, describing them as ‘horrible’.

He said he believed Donald Trump was partly responsible for growing political hostility in the US, claiming: ‘Trump is emboldening these people. They’re proud of their hate, not love.’

Tracey’s husband said he would move to Canada if that was the only way they could remain together. ‘I would do anything to be with my wife,’ he said.

It isn’t clear when Tracey will be deported or how long she’ll be prohibited from returning to the US. Ryan said he expected it to be ‘a very long time’.