The United States Department of Homeland Security announced on Aug. 4 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer for Moise Sainteran, a Haitian national accused of sexually assaulting two women in Salt Lake City, Utah.
According to local reporting, Salt Lake City Police arrested Sainteran on August 1 after two women accused him of sexually assaulting them in his apartment. The first victim told police that after visiting several bars on the night of July 17, she returned to Sainteran’s apartment in the early morning hours of July 18 where he allegedly assaulted her. The second victim said she fell asleep in his apartment on August 1 and woke up to him assaulting her.
Sainteran is now charged with two counts of rape and forcible sexual abuse, as well as charges of object rape, aggravated sexual assault, and forcible sodomy. ICE lodged a detainer on August 2 asking the Salt Lake County Jail not to release him.
“This illegal alien has been charged with sexually assaulting two women,” said a DHS spokesperson. “He was paroled into our country by the Biden Administration’s Haitian parole program, which the Trump Administration ended last year. ICE is asking officials in Salt Lake County to not release this criminal from jail, and to turn him over to ICE custody so we can remove him from our country.”
Sainteran was first paroled into the United States in September 2023 under the Biden Administration’s Haitian Humanitarian Parole program with authorization to remain until June 2025. He was granted employment authorization in December 2023. The Trump Administration terminated the Haiti parole program on April 24, 2025; after that date, Sainteran remained in the United States illegally.