An American fugitive’s snowboard trip to Whistler was cut short this week, four years to the day after he illegally entered the U.S. Capitol building with throngs of rioters.
Antony Vo, 32, arrived in Whistler on Christmas Eve after reportedly entering the country via Saskatchewan. Claiming political persecution, Vo filed for refugee asylum, as he awaited President-elect Donald Trump to take office and fulfil his promise to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters.
“We can confirm that Mr. Vo, a fugitive from U.S. justice, was arrested without incident in Whistler, B.C. on Jan. 6, 2025 on warrant under the [Immigration and Refugee Protection Act],” a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) told Pique in a statement.
Vo he was an irregular entry into Canada, crossing into the country either through North Dakota or Montana “pretty unimpededly.” The CBSA spokesperson confirmed the agency has no record of Vo entering Canada “at Regway, SK or any other official port of entry.
“The CBSA has a legal obligation to remove all foreign nationals who are inadmissible to Canada under the IRPA and who have a removal order in force,” the spokesperson said, adding more than 14,000 foreign nationals were removed from Canada between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2024.
Asked about Vo’s possible extradition to the U.S., the border agency spokesperson declined further comment. Pique has also requested comment from Vo’s legal counsel.
Photographed inside the Capital with his mother, Vo is one of more than 1,500 people charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 riots that injured more than 100 police officers and sent legislators scrambling for safety. More than 1,000 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial. Vo was convicted on four charges, including disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and sentenced to nine months. He was to report to federal prison in June.
Speaking with Pique prior to his arrest on Monday, Vo, an Epic Pass holder who hadn’t been to Whistler before, said his time in the resort was positive.
“It’s been lovely, man. Everybody I’ve met here has been so kind and I’ve made lots of friends here,” he said.
Vo didn’t shy away from media attention in his short time in Whistler, conducting a flurry of interviews with outlets across Canada and the U.S., including outside of The Longhorn that was broadcast on national TV.
Speaking with Pique, Vo likened himself to V, the revolutionary fighting a fictionalized fascist regime in the 2005 dystopian political film, .
“There’s a lot of tyranny and corruption in the world, and I want to do my part to bring light to it,” he said.
Fearing inhumane treatment because of his political views, Vo looked into possible asylum in Argentina, Mexico, El Salvador, Vietnam, Belarus and Russia, but either didn’t hear back or was presented with major hurdles to his claim. Ultimately, he settled on Canada, which he called “a bastion of freedom.”
Immigration experts, however, agreed Vo’s claims of political persecution would be difficult to prove, especially given the U.S. is generally considered to uphold the rule of law and respect human rights. Asylum claims from the U.S. are exceedingly rare, with only 142 from January to September last year, out of nearly 147,000 total claims from all countries. Canada has not accepted any American asylum claims in the past decade.
