Patricia Krentcil, widely known as “Tan Mom,” is taking aim at President Trump after claiming that ICE agents nearly arrested her because her deeply tanned skin led them to question whether she was an American citizen, as reported [1] by The Gateway Pundit.
Krentcil shared the dramatic account during a recent episode of her “Light Tan Up” podcast. She told co-host Adam Barta and guest Tom Arnold that the encounter began as she was leaving a restaurant with friends.
According to Krentcil, ICE agents approached her outside the restaurant and asked about her citizenship. Her version of the incident quickly escalated from a citizenship question to a claim that she was nearly placed in handcuffs and taken away.
Tan Mom is now claiming ICE stopped her because of her dark tan.
Patricia Krentcil said on her podcast that agents questioned her citizenship outside a restaurant.
She says she confirmed her status and walked away.
So the system worked exactly as it should.
Democrats will use any story to smear ICE.
Even this one.
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) October 22, 2026 [2]
“I was at a restaurant with my girlfriends, and I walked out with friends. We were done eating, and as we were walking out, the ICE people stopped me, and they asked me if I’m an American citizen, and I’m like yes!” Krentcil said.
Krentcil claimed that her extreme tan was the reason agents allegedly considered taking her into custody. She also said she feared that she could be placed inside a vehicle without knowing where she was being taken.
“And because I was so tan, they were about to handcuff me! And take me away! God knows where, cuz once you get in those trucks you don’t know where you’re going anymore, and I was scared, but I held my own, and I got out of the situation,” she said.
Her account placed her famous tanning habit at the center of an alleged encounter with federal immigration authorities. Krentcil did not merely complain about the agents, however, as she also turned the story into an attack on Trump.
Krentcil accused ICE agents of racism involving color and nationality. She then declared that Trump supports what she characterized as nonsense, bringing national politics directly into her eyebrow-raising restaurant tale.
“[ICE Agents] are very racist about color and nationalities… and I was almost in a pickle myself! And it was terrifying, and Trump supports all this nonsense!” she said.
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The podcast remarks marked another burst of attention for Krentcil, who first became widely known in 2012 because of her extreme tanning habit and allegations involving child endangerment. Her unusually dark tan became central to her public identity.
The Florida-based podcaster was previously accused of taking her daughter, who was 5 at the time, into a tanning booth. That allegation, along with her tanning habit, helped propel her into viral notoriety.
Her latest story again connects that appearance to controversy, this time through her assertion that federal agents questioned her citizenship. Krentcil portrayed the incident as frightening and said she managed to get herself out of the situation.
The account came during a conversation with Barta and Arnold on “Light Tan Up.” Krentcil’s description emphasized that she had been eating with friends before the group walked outside and encountered the people she identified as ICE agents.
Krentcil said she answered yes when asked whether she was an American citizen. She nevertheless maintained that agents were about to handcuff her because she was so tan, though her own account ended with her leaving the situation rather than being taken away.
The Trump bashing also fits with Krentcil’s previous entry into electoral politics. She ran for US Senate in Florida in 2024 against Republican incumbent Rick Scott, bringing the personality known as “Tan Mom” into a statewide political contest.
Krentcil’s campaign focused on expanding LGBTQ rights and fighting climate change. Despite entering the race against Scott, she ultimately withdrew and did not continue through the contest.
Now Krentcil is back in the spotlight with a tale combining her trademark tan, an alleged ICE encounter, accusations of racism, and a broadside against Trump. Her podcast account rests on her claim that a routine restaurant exit nearly became an arrest.
For Krentcil, the tanning habit that made her viral more than a decade ago remains inseparable from her public persona. This time, she says it nearly landed her in handcuffs before she “held my own” and escaped what she described as a terrifying situation.