Jan. 6 US Capitol Rioter Arrested In Whistler
Photo Credit: NPR
Anthony Vo was convicted and sentenced to nine months in jail for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US capitol. Instead of reporting to jail, he decided to leave the US and come to Canada to seek asylum. On Jan. 6, exactly four years after the US Capitol riot, he was arrested in Whistler. He was later pardoned by Trump and left Canada to go back home to the US.
Over 1,500 people were charged with capital riot-related crimes, and Vo was one of over 700 defendants to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
Vo was arrested on a warrant under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA). Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) claims it has no record of Vo entering Canada at an official port of entry. The CBSA removed more than 14,000 foreign nationals for violating the IRPA between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2024, according to the agency.
Vo’s lawyer, Oluwadamilola Asuni, said that he does not believe Vo talked to CBSA agents upon arriving in Canada. According to Asuni, Vo’s arrest was due to his unavailability for an interview.
"The fact that he said he was not going to be available for the interview does not in any way mean that he's trying to obstruct the CBSA [...] or he doesn't want to go for the interview," Asuni told the CBC. Asuni additionally claimed that Vo suggested an alternative date for an interview.
According to Asuni, Vo believed his arrest was politically motivated. "He thinks that Canada is just trying to prove a point [...] to the current U.S. government to say, Oh, we are not condoning your political opponent or stuff like that," Asuni said. "He thinks the whole thing is unfair to him, and he thinks that the entire thing is unreasonable."
Preceding Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, Vo told the CBC that he was hopeful that Trump would pardon him once he was in office.
"He's already made too many promises in the public spotlight that it would look really bad if he didn't," Vo said. "And he's a man of his word."
Vo also told the Toronto Sun that he was “pretty much 99 per cent sure” that Trump will pardon him once he takes office.
The incident that charged Vo was when he entered the Capitol with his mother, Annie Vo, to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally. They drove to Washington, DC from their home in Bloomington, Indiana. Another rioter took a photo of Vo holding up a flag at the riot.
The jury convicted Vo of four misdemeanors after his trial in September 2023. US District Judge Tanya Chutkan sentenced Vo in April, ordering him to report to prison on June 14. Vo told the judge that he was “sorry that January 6 happened” and also said “I know I shouldn’t have been there that day,” according to a transcript of his sentencing hearing.
Defence attorney Carmen Hernandez represented Vo on his Jan. 6 case. “All I can say is that I have not heard from him since he was arrested,” she said, according to The Vancouver Sun.
In December, Vo posted on social media claiming that he applied for refugee status. He gained asylum on Dec. 4. Vo also used social media to criticize the judge who sentenced him, saying that he was “wrongfully convicted by a kangaroo court.”
Shortly after his inauguration, Trump issued "a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
"This is a big one," Trump said while signing the document in the Oval House, adding, "We hope they come out tonight, frankly."
According to Vo’s lawyer, he was detained in Canada and left to go back to the US. In a statement to the CBC released the morning of Jan. 29, "Mr. Vo crossed into the US without any interference. Mr. Vo looks forward to returning to Indiana and reuniting with his family.
The statement also says that Vo is inadmissible to Canada for one year under an exclusion order.