ICE arrests ex-presidential candidate as Trump's immigration dragnet ensnares highest-profile victim yet
ICE released a statement on Monday saying they detained Boulos, 68, on Thursday for 'engaging in a campaign of violence and gang support'.
An anonymous official familiar with the arrest said agents detained the lawful permanent resident at his home in Miami.
Boulos was born in the US but renounced his citizenship to run for the president of Haiti in recent years.
He obtained his permanent residency status last year under the Biden administration.
ICE said on Monday that Boulos was detained for 'violating the Immigration and Nationality Act contributing to the destabilization of Haiti'.
'The Department of State determined that Boulos' presence or activities in the United States would have potential serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States, providing a basis for the charge of removability,' the statement reads.
'Specifically, officials determined that he engaged in a campaign of violence and gang support that contributed to Haiti's destabilization.'
ICE has also accused Boulos of 'failing to disclose his involvement in the formation of a political party in Haiti' in his application to become a lawful permanent resident of the US.
In 2019 Boulos created the Third Way Movement, a political party opposing the 'shameless elite and the unscrupulous politicians who are working to bog down the country and increase the suffering of the people,' he said at the time, per local media.
The party promptly stated it would seek 'a historic political compromise that would facilitate the negotiated departure from power of Jovenel Moïse.'
ICE also accused Boulos of failing to disclose 'that he was referred for prosecution by the Haitian government for allegedly 'misusing loans', which he has previously denied.
Boulos is the most high-profile Haitian arrested to date by ICE agents. An attorney for Boulos could not be immediately reached for comment.
He is being held at Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami, a detention center that Human Rights Watch said in a recent report is one of three in Florida that are grossly over capacity and 'flagrantly violate international human rights standards.'
Boulos founded several businesses while in Haiti, where he served as president of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Boulos visited Haiti's central region in August 2019 as he rallied for support for his political party.
'I am part of the system that must be destroyed,' he was quoted as saying by Le Nouvelliste newspaper. 'I know how to destroy it.'
Moïse served as president from 2017 until he was gunned down at his private residence in July 2021.
Dozens of suspects were arrested, including seventeen former Colombian soldiers who are still being interrogated by Haitian authorities.
Court documents have stated that those involved in the plot included Christian Emmanuel Sanon, a pastor, doctor and failed businessman who envisioned himself as Haiti's new leader. Elections have not been held since Moïse was killed.
Gang violence surged in the political vacuum that ensued, and Boulos soon returned to the US.
The arrest comes as the Trump administration seeks to end legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitians after announcing it would revoke such protections for those who arrived in the U.S. under a humanitarian parole program.
Rod Joseph, a Haitian-American running for US Congress, said he has been working with the administration to avoid deporting people 'just for the fun of it.'
'If the president goes after criminals, no one is against that,' he said on Monday.
'But if you deport someone who doesn't commit any crime who's here seeking a better life, this is when we start having issues with the practice.'
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