Infamous Taiwanese arrested amid Trump's immigration crackdown

Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower Movement student protest in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid United States President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants, according to Taiwan's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) on Saturday.

The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official website of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE revealed that Liou was apprehended in the U.S. for overstaying her visa.

The American agency announced that its Boston Field Office for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a "fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud, drug crimes in Taiwan."

ICE said its ERO took Liou into custody during an operation on Jan. 23 assisted by Massachusetts state's Needham Police Department.

Regarding the arrest, ICE's acting ERO Boston Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde was quoted as saying, "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 apparently entered the U.S. lawfully on a temporary visitor visa on May 2019 but failed to depart by her required exit date in August the same year.

ICE said Liou will remain in the custody of the ERO until her "removal" from the U.S., which Taiwan's CIB has estimated to be sometime in March.

The CIB also claimed credit for assisting ICE in arresting Liou.

The bureau said its U.S. liaison provided ICE with the information on Liou in cooperation with the latest U.S. immigration enforcement policy implemented by President Trump.

Liou, whose looks and revealing attire caught the eyes of Taiwanese media and earned her the nickname "Sunflower Queen" during the 2014 Sunflower Movement, had allegedly introduced women in Taiwan to a ring that enlisted females for prostitution in the U.S. in 2015.

Her involvement in the suspected cross-border prostitution ring saw her barred from leaving the country a decade ago.

Liou's name was subsequently covered in negative light by Taiwan's news media the following years for her alleged involvements in embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes. She 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, the CIB said she would be turned over to the custody of the city's prosecutors who will then determine which ones of her alleged crimes she would have to first stand trial for.