Carel Pedre in ICE custody at Krome despite legal effort to halt transfer

Haitian media personality Carel Pedre has been taken to Krome Detention Center, according to the  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s online detainee locator. Despite a legal motion intended to keep him in Broward County jail being filed while his domestic violence case is resolved, Pedre was moved early Wednesday.

Pedre’s attorney filed a motion Tuesday asking the court to revoke the $1,000 cash bond posted in his misdemeanor battery case, sources told The Haitian Times Tuesday. The goal was to keep him in local custody while the criminal charge is resolved, thereby avoiding an immediate transfer to federal immigration detention.

The motion — shared with The Haitian Times on condition of anonymity because the source is not authorized to speak about the case — argues that if Pedre were released while an ICE detainer was active, federal agents could take him into custody and he would not be returned for court proceedings.

“There is a very good chance that Mr. Pedre will not be brought back to this Court to defend the charges in this case,” the motion stated.

The request came just before the 48-hour window ICE typically has to take custody after a bond is posted. Pedre posted bond Dec. 22, and his legal team submitted the motion and a written not guilty plea the next day. The state opposed the bond revocation.

ICE picked him up while waiting in court this morning to see Judge Chris Brown in Fort Lauderdale, according to law enforcement sources. ICE agents arrived at 9 a.m. and requested that the officers watching Pedre in a courthouse holding cell release him to their custody. His hearing had been scheduled for 10 a.m., but the transfer occurred before the proceeding could begin. The Broward Sheriff’s Office later confirmed the apprehension to The Haitian Times.

As of Wednesday, Pedre was listed as being “in ICE custody” at the Krome Detention Center in Miami, the notorious prison familiar to thousands of Haitians who came to the U.S. by boat during the migration crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. 

Pedre, 45, was arrested Dec. 21 in Tamarac, a city in Broward County, after an altercation with his girlfriend allegedly escalated into a street confrontation. He was charged with misdemeanor battery and booked into the Broward County Mail Jail in Fort Lauderdale.

Pedre is one of Haiti’s most recognized media figures, known for founding Chokarella and hosting Digicel Stars. He has played a major role in shaping Haitian pop culture and digital media both in Haiti and the diaspora.

No future court dates have been publicly posted in the Broward case as of Tuesday.

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