The Department of Homeland Security alleged on Tuesday that a Utah youth soccer coach who has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a “predator” and has a history of child sexual abuse.
Jair Celis, a 29-year-old Utah father and soccer coach, was taken into ICE custody last week during what he expected to be his final interview before receiving a permanent resident card, according to his attorney. Celis, who is married to a U.S. citizen, is now being held in a detention facility in Arizona.
“If you break the law, you will face the consequences,” Homeland Security said on X on Tuesday. “We are not going to give green cards to child predators.”
The Tribune contacted ICE multiple times Monday and Tuesday about the reason for Celis’ detention but did not hear back.
In 2014, Celis was accused in 3rd District Juvenile Court of a second-degree felony allegation of sexual abuse of a child, according to a court filing obtained by The Tribune on Tuesday. Another allegation is redacted in the filing.
The document alleges that between March 1, 2014, and April 30, 2014, when he was 17 years old, Celis abused a girl who attended his ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake County.
A search by The Tribune revealed no adult criminal record in Utah for Celis. His family is fighting to have him released on bond in the immigration case. His attorneys said his first court appearance is scheduled for Friday, and that they have gathered some 250 letters of support for him.
The juvenile court filing includes a statement by Murray Police Detective Tyson Badovinatz, who described his July 31, 2014, interview with the girl, who was under 14.
She told the detective that on one Sunday after church, as she and Celis waited for their parents, Celis told her to “come here.” Celis started kissing and touching her, she said, and “she felt scared and like it was wrong, so she left.”
The girl also described two other occasions to Badovinatz, according to the filing. Once, when she was in a room in a church building, Celis came in and closed the door behind him, she said. He touched her and made her touch his genitals, she alleged.
On a different day, she was at a joint Young Men and Young Women activity at a church building when he sent her a Snapchat message to meet him in a different room, she said. He locked the door once she was inside, then touched her and said she couldn’t leave until she performed oral sex, she alleged, which she told the detective she did.
An attorney for Celis, Adam Crayk of Stowell Crayk, PLLC, contradicted the girl’s account and asserted the contact was consensual.
“Both teenagers, consensual. Upset family at the time,” Crayk said. “But this was not this type of situation that DHS is making it out to be. They have literally lied to us all. They have absolutely lied.”
A second document, described as a summary of Celis’ delinquency record as of Tuesday, said he had been adjudicated on one misdemeanor, which indicates his admission to a lesser offense was likely arranged through negotiations.
“Ultimately, there was an admission to unlawful sexual contact with a minor,” Crayk said.
In its post on X, the Department of Homeland Security said Celis has a “criminal history for sodomy of a child and sexual abuse of a child.”
The post said Celis entered the U.S. in July 2007 on a tourist visa that required him to leave by Jan. 1, 2008. Celis turned 11 between those two dates.
“On his green card application he listed his occupation as a youth soccer coach. While illegally overstaying his visa, he was arrested for these heinous crimes against children. This predator has been placed in removal proceedings,” the post said.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Protesters gather outside of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in Salt Lake City on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.
Celis was at the green card interview with his wife, Lexie Celis, when an officer asked to speak with the husband and wife separately, said attorney Andy Armstrong, who is also with Stowell Crayk, PLLC. Celis was taken into another room where two ICE officers detained him, Armstrong said.
Under immigration law, allegations against minors and the resolutions of such cases in juvenile court are not considered “convictions” that, by themselves, can support detention or deportation, Crayk said.
And immigration officials must disclose whether such a juvenile case is a factor in a detention or deportation, Crayk said. But the notice given to Celis by ICE when he was detained listed only the allegation that he had overstayed his visa, he said.
“The very agency who arrested him, who’s in charge of detaining him, has not brought it up,” he said.
In its post, Homeland Security criticized The Tribune’s coverage of Celis’ case, saying the newspaper “has completely lost the plot in their indefensible spin for a SODOMITE AND CHILD ABUSER. Here are the facts: Jair Celis Lecuona has a criminal history for sodomy of a child and sexual abuse of a child.”
In his legal opinion, Crayk said, the post written by Homeland Security about Celis is libelous. The agency is making an implication about how the case against Celis was resolved, which is not public information, he said.
“That is 100% speculation going off of something that was never verified or ferreted out in a court of law,” Crayk said.
“I’m blown away,” he added. “I’ve never seen a United States government administration do what just happened here.”
Homeland Security officials are “behaving as gossiping children. They’re also breaking their own laws,” Armstrong said, referring to the the Privacy Act of 1974.
That law “generally prohibits agencies from disclosing records without written consent,” he said, and the exact resolution of the allegations against Celis “is not a public record, and it’s also not a federal government record, so the federal government should not even be disclosing it at all.”
Crayk added, “They can’t release to you whether or not he accepted responsibility, they can’t release to you whether or not he was put on probation, they can’t release any of that to you.”
In a statement Wednesday, Lexie Celis asked for privacy for her family “as we navigate these inhumane and awful circumstances that the Government has created for an innocent family” and thanked members of the community for their support.
“As this process has played out, I knew that there would be lies and wrongful accusations, but to have it come from our own Government to fit their inhumane narrative and agenda is absolutely disgusting, but ultimately not surprising,” she said. “The people who know [Jair] know who he is — and it is nothing along the lines of what he has been accused. I’m grateful for the immense amount of support we have received.”
Note to readers, Dec. 10, 3:20 p.m. • This story has been updated to include a statement from Lexie Celis.