Trump Admin Deports Venezuelan TikToker who Urged Illegal Immigrants to Squat in US Homes
The Trump administration has announced the deportation of the Venezuelan illegal immigrant who gained attention online after he encouraged migrants to exploit US squatter laws and bragged about receiving government benefits.
“He has been deported,” the administration posted on X via its Rapid Response account, resharing a video from the TikToker in question, Leonel Moreno.
Moreno, who illegally entered the US near Eagle Pass, Texas, in 2022, and was released under the Border Patrol system, gained a following on social media by mocking American taxpayers and bragging about the money he had received from entitlement programs.
“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said in Spanish in one of his videos. “I came to the US to mark my territory.”
He flaunted stacks of cash he had earned via TikTok and claimed he was receiving $350 a week in government assistance. Moreno bragged that at one point he was brining in $1,000 a week, a Fox News report noted.
“You’re hurt because I make more than you without much work while you work like slaves, understand?” he said in one video. “That’s the difference between you and me. I’m always going to make lots of money without much work, and you’re always going to be exploited and miserable and insignificant.”
His TikTok account, which had amassed nearly half a million followers, was eventually shut down. However, he continued posting on Facebook and Instagram until he was arrested in Ohio last year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took Moreno into custody following the rise of his online presence. He spent months in detention under the Biden administration.
A judge ordered his removal last September, but at the time, Venezuela refused to accept deportation flights under Biden’s policies. That stance changed under the Trump administration, allowing for his deportation to proceed.
