DHS Says the Haitian Man Charged in the Pennsylvania Walmart Killing Came In Under Biden's CHNV Parole Program and Lost His Status in 2025
Follow-up to our earlier report. DHS sources give new dates for Destino Jean-Louis's entry, the revoked status and the arrest. He is charged and has denied being at the store.
Homeland Security has now laid out how the man charged in a Pennsylvania Walmart shooting entered the country, Fox News reports. This follows our earlier report on the case.
Entry and status. Multiple DHS sources told Fox that Destino Jean-Louis, 23, entered the U.S. legally on Nov. 24, 2023, at Fort Lauderdale International Airport under the Biden administration's CHNV parole program for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. They said DHS revoked his legal status on June 12, 2025.
The arrest. DHS told Fox that ICE arrested Jean-Louis in Philadelphia on Oct. 23 and transferred him to local authorities on Oct. 26. Our earlier report, citing the U.S. Marshals Service, said the Marshals arrested him that day on immigration charges. Fox's account here cites DHS and ICE, and the two agencies' roles are not reconciled in the reporting. DHS said: "He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation's laws. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences."
The case. Jean-Louis is charged with murder in the Oct. 21 shooting of Latosha Ann Cooper, 45, outside a Walmart in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County. According to 6ABC and Fox 29, as cited by Fox, the two met while working at Walmart in 2024 and married after Cooper offered to help him get a green card. His application was denied in July, and Cooper withdrew from the process and cut off contact.
What investigators allege. They say he contacted Walmart employees for her work schedule and waited outside in a mask on Oct. 21. District Attorney Kevin Steele said he hid near bushes, and court documents say he ran at her as she left and shot her. Cellphone records put him at the store that night and on several earlier nights. Court documents also allege he had assaulted her before.
His side. Jean-Louis denied being at the store when Cooper was killed, per 6ABC. He faces first-degree murder, third-degree murder, an illegal alien use of a firearm charge, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of an instrument of crime, and is held without bail.
Note for readers: these are charges, not a conviction. The parole dates come from unnamed DHS sources. Fox says Walmart and the district attorney's office could not immediately be reached for comment.