The Trump administration has confirmed the deportation of Leonel Moreno, a Venezuelan illegal immigrant TikTok star who instructed other illegals to exploit U.S. squatting laws by occupying vacant homes.
A rapid response account for the administration shared an update on the illegal immigrant, known online as “the migrant influencer.”
Moreno illegally entered the U.S. on April 23, 2022, at Eagle Pass, Texas. He was placed in ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program but failed to report within 60 days, leading to his arrest in March 2024. Although an Ohio judge ordered his deportation in September, Venezuela had been refusing to accept deportation flights at the time.
The Trump administration took decisive action, revoking Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans on February 1 and securing an agreement with Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to take his citizens back. With that agreement in place, Moreno was successfully deported.
The TikTok star posted a video on TikTok telling migrants how to take unoccupied homes in the United States.
“I have thought about invading a house in the United States. I found out that there is a law that says that if a house is not inhabited we can seize it,” he says in the video.
He added some of his friends have “already taken about seven houses.”
If a house is in poor condition, migrants can “repair and live in it,” Moreno explained.
The migrant appears to be drawing upon squatters’ rights, which allow unlawful property occupants to remain on the property without the owner’s permission in certain circumstances.
