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.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS