Talk about taking things beyond the pale.
New Jersey’s infamous “Tan Mom” says federal immigration agents nearly put her in handcuffs after questioning whether she was a U.S. citizen—an encounter she believes may have been prompted by her famously dark tan.
Patricia Krentcil shared the account during an appearance on the “Light. Tan. Up.” podcast with actor Tom Arnold. She said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents stopped her as she was leaving a restaurant with several friends.
Patricia Krentcil, better known as “Tan Mom,” says ICE agents questioned her U.S. citizenship because of her dark tan during an appearance on the “Light. Tan. Up.” podcast. (Light. Tan. Up. with Tan Mom & Adam Barta)
“As we’re walking out, the ICE people stopped me and they asked me, ‘Am I an American citizen?’” Krentcil recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Yes.’ You know, it blew my mind.”
The longtime tanning enthusiast said the situation nearly became even more alarming than her deep bronze complexion.
“Because I was so tan, they were about to handcuff me … and take me away. God knows where,” she alleged.
Krentcil’s unusually bronzed appearance has drawn national attention for more than a decade. She said she feared being detained and taken to an unknown destination.
An exterior view of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) administrative office and processing center on June 28, 2025. (Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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“Once you get in those trucks, you don’t know where you’re going anymore,” she said. “I was scared, but I held my own and I got out of the situation.”
Krentcil also accused immigration authorities of discriminatory conduct, saying, “But they’re very racist about color and nationalities and stuff like that.”
Krentcil became a national celebrity in the 2010s because of her signature deep tan. (iStock)
She described the alleged encounter as “terrifying.”
Krentcil did not say when or where the incident supposedly took place, and News Outlet has not independently confirmed her account.
Krentcil first gained widespread attention in 2012, when authorities accused her of taking her then-5-year-old daughter into a tanning bed at a New Jersey salon.
She was arrested and charged with second-degree child endangerment after her daughter reportedly arrived at school with sunburns. The case triggered intense media scrutiny of Krentcil’s tanning routine and parenting.
The case ended without an indictment. An Essex County grand jury declined to indict Krentcil in February 2013, and the charges were dropped.
Krentcil later left New Jersey for Florida, where the woman whose famously deep tan made her a tabloid sensation continues to embrace life in the Sunshine State.
ICE did not immediately respond to News Outlet’s request for comment about the alleged encounter.
