Photo by Michele Eve Sandberg
Audio By Carbonatix
It was around 2:30 p.m. at Miami International Airport, and people were confused.
As more and more Miami-Dade police officers and TV reporters with bulky equipment gathered near MIA’s Southwest Airlines arrivals area, some spilling into the nearby Chili’s Too restaurant, passersby wanted to know: Who is everyone waiting for?
“Are you waiting for Bad Bunny?” one woman asked several reporters. Two young girls nervously approached a cameraman to ask what was going on. A Spirit Airlines employee nosily asked around hoping to find out the same.
But it wasn’t a world-famous reggaeton artist, or any other pop-culture icon that had drawn this crowd. It was onetime Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio.
Within hours of his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, President Donald Trump pardoned the more than 1,500 people who’d been charged in connection to insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The president extended his clemency and pardoning pen to members and leaders of far-right groups, including Tarrio.
After serving 16 months of a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy and other charges – the longest sentence imposed on any January 6 defendant – Tarrio was freed from prison on January 21.
The Proud Boys flag was hoisted outside the Southwest Airlines arrival gates at Miami International Airport on January 22, 2025.
Photo by Anna Magluta
Later that day, in his first post-release interview, Tarrio told right-wing commentator Alex Jones that while the president might be “focusing not on retribution and focusing on success,” he does not intend to “play by those rules.
“The people who did this – they need to feel the heat,” Tarrio elaborated. “They need to be put behind bars, and they need to be prosecuted!” The Proud Boys organization, he said, will remain “what it has always been,” suggesting that members of the media cease referring to him a as the “former” leader of the group, because he aims to “get back in the fight as soon as possible.”
Now, toting a Louis Vuitton duffel bag and sporting Lululemon joggers, a Motley Crüe T-shirt, and a black “Make America Great Again” hat with “Never Surrender” appended on the side, Tarrio exited onto the main concourse, where he was greeted by cheers, and at least one critic who hollered, “Traitor!” His friends, family, and two men hoisting a Proud Boys banner were there to welcome him back to his native Miami.
Them, and the media circus. “Welcome home! Welcome home!” a man in the crowd hollered to Tarrio.
Tarrio barely slowed down to acknowledge members of the media on his way out of MIA.
Photo by Michele Eve Sandberg
Tarrio tightly embraced his mother, who sighed deeply and held her hands as if in a prayer. Then he passionately embraced and kissed an unidentified woman on the lips and and hugged her tight.
As he exited the airport, he was swarmed by TV reporters, who at one point led him into a gift shop that sells travel bags. He was then whisked away in a large SUV.
In a brief interview with Local 10, Tarrio praised Trump for the pardon and reiterated his desire that people not refer to as an “ex” Proud Boy, characterizing the group as “our organization.”
