What started as a Texas farmer’s love for exotic chickens has led to armed federal agents storming her farm, killing her prized birds, and a possible 20-year prison sentence for bringing rare eggs into the country.
Jennifer Mayo, who owns a chicken farm in South Texas, has found herself at the center of a federal smuggling case that has destroyed her business and left her fighting for her freedom.
The farmer’s story begins with a passion project that grew into a flourishing business enterprise. She started with nine birds about five years ago. Her collection eventually expanded into 39 different breeds of chickens, and her farm became a local attraction, drawing visitors from her community.
“Our local newspaper did a little article about it becoming kind of a roadside attraction,” Mayo told me in a podcast interview (see video below). Her focus on rare and exotic breeds like the Dong Tao, which are native to Vietnam, helped her stand out from other chicken farming operations.
Mayo’s ordeal began in 2023 when she traveled to Vietnam to visit her brother. During her trip, she purchased Dong Tao eggs from a government-operated farm.
Confident that she had followed all of the rules, she brought the eggs back to the United States. She passed multiple customs inspections without an issue.
“I told the lady [in Vietnam], ‘I’m taking these eggs to America if they let me,’ and she was like, ‘Oh, that’s great,’” Mayo recalled.
Mayo went through customs in the Philippines on her way back to Texas. The eggs were inspected before she boarded the plane. “They searched through my bags. The guy said, ‘What kind of egg is this?’ And I said, ‘It’s chicken. Chicken eggs.’ He said, ‘Okay,’ and sent me on my way.”
Mayo proceeded to LAX, where she planned to declare her possession of the eggs.
“I get to LAX, still nothing… It was completely my intent to declare them,” she said, adding that she didn’t see a single customs agent as the airport was under construction. “What I had read on the website for customs was that it was at the discretion of the customs agent. So I was like, ‘If they let me through, they let me through. If they don’t, I had a wonderful experience on this trip,” she said.
Excited about her purchase, Mayo told her friends on Facebook about the process. But the excitement would soon turn to horror.
A team of heavily armed federal agents raided Mayo’s farm in July 2023. The officers also detained her tenants, placing them in handcuffs.
“They kicked in all the doors. They handcuffed my tenants. They kept one of my tenants standing outside, handcuffed in his underwear, for two hours,” Mayo recounted. In total, around 40 officers were involved, including U.S. Marshals in riot gear. “Look at me. Do I really look like I’m gonna run?” she asked, incredulous.
The raid’s most devastating moment came next, when the agents killed Mayo’s Dong Tao chickens without her consent.
“They asked the attorney I had at the time for permission to kill the birds… My boss, who was also my friend, told them, ‘No, she does not give the attorney permission.’ They were like, ‘No, we’re doing it anyways.’” she said. “So they killed the surviving Dong Tao.”
Mayo has been barred from running her farm while her case is pending. “It completely stopped my business,” she said.
Federal authorities are charging her with smuggling the eggs into the country and deliberately trying to avoid declaring them in customs, a claim Mayo denies.
Prosecutors are using her Facebook posts as evidence that she intended to sneak the eggs into the country.
Mayo said:
I felt that customs let me through with the eggs. They were in my carry-on. They were not hidden. I came. I came onto U.S. soil. Nobody cared. I thought I was fine
I started talking about the birth [of the chickens who hatched] on Facebook to other chicken people. I mean, we were excited…I did not feel like I had anything to hide.
Mayo’s legal fight has been exacerbated by difficulties with accessing discovery materials. She is in the process of filing a motion asking the court to compel her court-appointed attorney to release the materials.
Mayo indicated that her attorney pressured her into a guilty plea without informing her of all of her options. “I asked him repeatedly for the discovery, and he said, ‘It’s too many pages to print, and I cannot give you electronic access,’” she recounted.
She reluctantly signed the agreement but has since successfully withdrawn her plea, citing ineffective counsel.
Her court-appointed attorney gave her fewer than 24 hours to sign the plea deal. Mayo explained:
“I said, ‘I’d like to look over it. I’d really like to read it over and have a chance to look at it. And he said, ‘Well, I need it by noon tomorrow.’ So I had less than 24 hours to make a decision…I definitely did not get good representation.”
If convicted, Mayo could face up to 20 years in federal prison for bringing chicken eggs into the country. Despite these legal hurdles, Mayo remains resolute in her innocence. “The way that the government has handled this, the way that the state has used the feds to push their agenda, it’s been wrong. It’s wrong,” she said.
Watch the full interview with myself, my significant other/fiancée Doni Anthony, and Mayo below. If you would like to donate to Mayo’s legal fund, you can do so at her GiveSendGo page.
