Federal agents in Miami arrest a prominent Haitian businessman and once presidential hopeful
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Federal agents in Miami have arrested Pierre Réginald Boulos, a well-known Haitian businessman, doctor and former presidential hopeful.
The arrest occurred at Boulos’ home in South Florida late last week, a person familiar with the arrest said Monday.
Boulos was born in the United States but renounced his citizenship to run for president of Haiti in recent years. He obtained his U.S residency last year under the Biden administration.
Boulos, who previously has denied a flurry of corruption allegations, is the most well-known Haitian arrested to date by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It wasn’t immediately clear why Boulos was arrested. ICE did not return a message seeking details.
An attorney for Boulos could not be immediately reached for comment.
Boulos was 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.
In 2019, he created the Third Way Movement, a political party in contrast to 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, according to local media.
The party promptly stated it would seek “a historic political compromise that would facilitate the negotiated departure from power of Jovenel Moïse.”
Boulos visited Haiti’s central region in August 2019 as he rallied for support.
“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 U.S.
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 U.S. 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 over the phone 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.”
By DÁNICA COTO
Associated Press
