Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.
The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday.
ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa.
Photo: Screen grab from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Web site
The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said.
Liou was taken into custody during an operation on Jan. 23, it added.
ERO Boston Field Office Director Patricia Hyde said: “Arresting this foreign fugitive and criminal alien underscores the importance of our collaboration with local law enforcement to safeguard public safety and uphold the integrity of our immigration system.”
Liou had entered the US lawfully on a temporary visitor’s visa on May 2019, but failed to depart by her required exit date in August the same year, ICE said.
Liou is to remain in the custody of the ERO until her “removal” from the US, which the CIB estimates would be some time next month, it added.
The CIB said it had assisted ICE in the arrest by providing information on Liou.
Liou, whose looks and revealing attire caught the eyes of Taiwanese media and earned her the nickname “Sunflower Queen” during the Sunflower movement in 2014, had allegedly introduced Taiwanese women to a prostitution ring in the US in 2015.
She was barred from leaving Taiwan a decade ago for her involvement in the suspected cross-border ring. Liou’s name was subsequently covered in a negative light by Taiwanese media for her alleged involvement in embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes.
Liou became a wanted criminal by the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in 2023 for failing to appear in court.
Due to her status as a fugitive of New Taipei City, the CIB said she would be turned over to the custody of the city’s prosecutors, who would then determine which of her alleged crimes she would have to first stand trial for.
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