Migrant Who Encouraged Squatting Broke ICE Rules

A migrant influencer who told his TikTok followers to invade and squat in U.S. homes is wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Leonel Moreno illegally entered the United States at Eagle Pass, Texas, in early 2022. After his arrival, he created a following on TikTok as a "migrant influencer." As of this month, the content creator had more than 500,000 followers.

But after breaking Alternatives to Detention program rules, which permit the federal government to track migrants with ankle monitors, he is now wanted as an "absconder."

Newsweek reached out to Moreno via Instagram for comment. Newsweek also reached out to ICE for comment via email.

Moreno made a controversial wave on TikTok after claiming he and his family earn $350 from the government each week. He's also been seen yelling in front of a police car in Columbus, Ohio.

Moreno told his "fellow Venezuelans" to squat in American homes and also showed off items he said he purchased with U.S. food stamps. Moreno also flaunted a Social Security card on his TikTok page, and said he's made $1,000 a day as a panhandler.

"I don't like to work," Moreno said in one video. "Boys, in the U.S. there are a million tricks, a million things to do."

Moreno first started living in the U.S. after being released on parole. He moved to Columbus, despite his official point of contact remaining as Catholic Charities in Miami, ICE told The New York Post.

Moreno was mailed an immigration court date in November 2022 after failing to show up for scheduled appointments.

His presence on TikTok has made a significant impact, and many are worried that his content will encourage other migrants to illegally squat in citizens' property. Moreno has said he didn't work for the entire first year of living in the United States.

"I've concluded that the American Dream is real," Moreno said previously. "This is food of the best quality that they just give you."

Still, Gilberto Cárdenas, a sociology professor at the University of Notre Dame and the founding director of the Institute for Latino Studies, said the border problem began more than a century ago and has remained consistent in recent years.

"The more we rely on criminalization, the more we strengthen the underground system, spend more money and achieve less opportunities to complete our goals successfully," Cárdenas told Newsweek. "We need to look back at what we did during World War II and what Reagan did to admit workers and family and the positive impact on our economy both times—labor markets, product markets, consumer markets and housing markets throughout the country."

Many might view the ongoing migrant situation as a labor crisis, wherein outsiders take U.S. jobs, but this often does not reflect reality, according to Michael Montgomery, a professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

"The migrant situation is neither the criminal justice nor the national security threat that the right seeks to portray it as," Montgomery told Newsweek. "The reality is that America needs the labor and a deal between the White House and Congress was ready to go. But Trump and other office seekers on the right want to campaign on the alleged issue, and now we're back to an impasse."

While Montgomery said ICE will make a "maximum effort" to find and deport Moreno, it's 50-50 whether the migrant influencer will be located.