A Haitian paroled by the Biden administration is accused of raping two different women after he brought them back to his apartment in Salt Lake City, police said.
The suspect, 37-year-old Moise Sainteran, faces two counts of rape and forcible sexual abuse. Police filed additional charges, including forcible sodomy, stemming from one alleged assault on July 17. The rapes were reported within two weeks of each other, police said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also lodged an immigration detainer against Sainteran on Aug. 2, asking the Salt Lake County Jail to not release him.
Salt Lake City Police arrested Sainteran on Aug. 1 after two different victims accused him of sexually assaulting them in his apartment. He entered under Biden’s Haitian humanitarian parole program, but his authorization ended in June 2025 and he never left.
“This Haitian illegal alien SEX PREDATOR was allowed into our country by the BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S Haitian parole program,” DHS posted on X. “ICE is working with local law enforcement to ensure he is turned over to our custody so we can REMOVE him from our nation.
This Haitian illegal alien SEX PREDATOR was allowed into our country by the BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S Haitian parole program.
Moise Sainteran is facing charges — including RAPE — for sexually assaulting two women in Utah.
ICE is working with local law enforcement to ensure he is… https://t.co/Nw7Kkg7tvW pic.twitter.com/cArbZ3iZq5
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 4, 2026
Salt Lake police said the first victim, a 20-year-old woman, told officers that she went out bar hopping with Sainteran on the night of July 17. She said he arrived at her apartment complex intoxicated and gave her a water bottle containing vodka, ABC4 News reported, while omitting his immigration status.
They went out to bars downtown until about 2 a.m., court documents state, and then returned to Sainteran’s home. He allegedly forced himself on the woman despite her objections to stop.
The victim reported the sexual assault to police the next day, on July 18, leading to the additional charges of object rape, aggravated sexual assault and forcible sodomy related to that incident.
Police later interviewed Sainteran, who said he knew the victim but denied having sexual intercourse with her. He reportedly changed his story and said they did have sex, but claimed it was consensual, according to court documents.
The second alleged incident occurred Aug. 1, when the second victim told police she fell asleep in his apartment and woke up to him sexually assaulting her. He continued to rape the woman, ignoring her demands to stop, investigators said.
Police responded to his apartment and later interviewed Sainteran regarding that alleged rape. Sainteran told police the interaction was mutual and that he and the victim had been “kissing all night.”
According to a DHS news release, Sainteran entered the United States in September 2023 under the Biden administration’s Haitian Humanitarian Parole program. He had authorization to stay until June 2025, along with receiving work authorization in December 2023.
The Trump administration terminated the Haiti parole program on April 24, 2025, after which point Sainteran remained in the United States illegally.
Salt Lake City was a popular place to settle among migrants who crossed the border under the Biden administration, the Associated Press previously reported.
Salt Lake City saw 1,685 immigrant arrivals for every 100,000 residents, ranking third among all U.S. metropolitan areas per capita, the AP reported. The data is based on self-reported destinations of nearly 2.5 million people who crossed the border illegally or came through the CBP One app.
Illegal immigrant crime also has been on the uptick, with ICE lodging immigration detainers against several migrants accused of serious crimes in the state.
In March, Jesus Alejandro Ramirez-Padilla, a Mexican illegal immigrant high on methamphetamine, allegedly slit a woman’s throat multiple times and left her in an alley in Salt Lake City.
Thirty miles east of Salt Lake City, ICE lodged an arrest detainer for Conrrado Ahuexoteco Atrisco on March 5 in the ritzy resort town of Park City, Utah. Atrisco, 24, is another Mexico national who is accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
Earlier this year, Gerardo Aurelio Iturbide, 24, from Mexico, was federally indicted for allegedly producing and distributing child sexual abuse material involving a teenage girl.
Iturbide was arrested and charged with state and federal crimes after meeting three runaway teenagers at a gas station in Hurricane, Utah. He allegedly raped two of the victims and recorded one of the assaults and sent it to a friend. He has three prior voluntary removals from the country.
Another Mexican illegal, Robert Galicia-Hernandez, was arrested during a traffic stop March 16 in St. George, Utah, near the state’s southern border with Arizona. He attempted to smuggle 170 pounds of meth into the state.
They are expected to face removal proceedings after criminal prosecution, ICE officials said.
