A Venezuelan national in the U.S. illegally who encouraged other illegal immigrants on TikTok to “invade abandoned houses” as squatters has been deported.
Leonel Moreno, who infamously flashed wads of federal cash handouts and encouraged other illegal immigrants to squat in U.S. homes, was sent back to Venezuela as the Trump administration resumed deportation flights to the South American country, the New York Post reported Friday.
Moreno caused a disturbance on the flight and had to be placed in his own section of the plane, with extra security to calm tensions, the Post reported.
Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s minister of the interior, justice and peace, confirmed that Moreno was among 178 people on the flight who had been deported by the U.S., according to the El Diario news outlet in Caracas.
"He was on the list of those who were there and will go through the same procedure,” Cabello said. “Now, what's happening with that gentleman is that many of the people on the flight were upset because his campaign was to point out Venezuelans around the world as criminals. … From the very beginning, special security was needed because the other passengers were very upset.”
Moreno crossed the Mexican border into Texas illegally in April 2022 and was caught and released into the U.S., according to the Post. But he failed to appear for his required check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, leading to his arrest in Ohio in March 2024. An immigration judge in October ordered Moreno’s deportation, but Venezuela refused to accept any deportation flights at the time.
Once President Donald Trump returned to the White House and began his mass deportation campaign, Venezuela began allowing the U.S. deportation flights to land again. Moreno was moved to an ICE detention center in Conroe, Texas, on Feb. 26 to prepare for his deportation, according to the Post.
Moreno used his massive social media following to brag about government handouts.
“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said in one clip while flashing 100-dollar bills, the Post reported.
Moreno also said he used his 1-year-old child, a U.S. citizen, to boost his social media presence and boasted that he and his wife didn’t pay anything for their daughter’s birth thanks to “Papa Biden.”
ICE was also looking into Moreno’s alleged service as a sergeant of the Venezuelan general directorate of military intelligence, sources previously told the Post. He was also being investigated for posting videos on social media trying out weapons at a gun store.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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