Jean Morose Viliena, the former Mayor of Les Irois, Haiti, has been sentenced to nine years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for possessing and using a Permanent Resident Card he had fraudulently obtained by falsely stating that he had not ordered, carried out, or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people.
A federal jury convicted Viliena in March 2025 of three counts of visa fraud.
In Haiti, Jean Morose Viliena was involved in the violent killings, beatings, and assaults of whomever he believed threatened his power as mayor, said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Jean Morose Viliena built a life in the United States by burying the truth about his violent past – a past marked by political persecution, bloodshed and the silencing of dissent in Haiti,” said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley for the District of Massachusetts.
Viliena, 53, was the Mayor of Les Irois, Haiti, from December 2006 until February 2010. As a candidate and as mayor, Viliena was backed by Korega, a political machine that used armed violence to exert power throughout the southwestern region of Haiti.
Viliena personally supervised his mayoral staff and other armed supporters aligned with Korega and directed them to engage in armed violence to quash opposition to his authority.
According to evidence presented at trial, on July 27, 2007, Viliena violently retaliated against an activist who had previously spoken at a judicial proceeding on behalf of a neighbour whom Viliena had assaulted. In a brutal act of reprisal, that evening, Viliena led an armed group to the activist’s home, where Viliena and his associates shot and killed the activist’s younger brother and then smashed the brother’s skull with a large rock before a crowd of bystanders.
Viliena committed another act of violent retribution in April 2008, when he and his associates attacked community members who had founded a radio station that Viliena opposed.
According to multiple witnesses’ testimony, Viliena mobilised armed members of his staff and supporters to forcibly shut down the radio station and seize its broadcasting equipment. Viliena distributed firearms to his men, some of whom also carried machetes and picks.
According to the evidence presented at trial, during this incident, Viliena beat one man and ordered an associate to shoot him when he tried to flee. As a result, the man’s leg was later amputated above the knee. Viliena also beat a student who was at the radio station; when the student tried to flee, a bullet struck his face, leaving him permanently blind in one eye.
Less than two months after the radio station attack, Viliena presented himself at the U.S. Embassy Consular Office in Port au Prince, Haiti, where he applied for a visa to enter the United States. T
he visa application specifically requires an applicant to state whether they are a member of any class of individuals excluded from admission into the United States, including those who have “ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and other acts of violence against the Haitian people.”
Viliena falsely responded “no,” indicating that this category did not apply to him. Viliena thereafter swore to and affirmed before a U.S. consular officer that the contents of the application were true and signed the application.
Based on Viliena’s false representations, the United States approved his visa application and permitted him to enter the country. The United States later granted Viliena lawful permanent resident status and a Permanent Resident Card, also known as a “Green Card.”
For years, through the use of his fraudulently obtained Green Card, Viliena enjoyed a job; sufficient income; a comfortable home; a safe community; the ability to visit his family in Les Irois at any time; and the privilege of raising and educating a son who is now a U.S. citizen by birth.
