In front of the camera, the immigrant Internet celebrity snorted and cried, saying that someone was going to kill him.
Moreno, from Venezuela, who had 500,000 followers before his TikTok account was blocked, began his illegal "American dream" after he illegally entered the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas, in April 2022 and was arrested by immigration authorities. During the escape, Moreno was not idle, he kept sharing videos on TikTok of how he occupied empty houses in the United States, lived on the relief of the US government, and taught people how to live "freely" after smuggling.
(Moreno, who has 500,000 followers, snorted and cried in front of the camera)
TikTok has blocked his account since the video of him teaching people to smuggle people went viral, and a spokesperson for TikTok said in an interview with the Daily Mail that the platform does not allow users to promote criminal activities through videos.
Leonel Moreno was arrested by USCIS, but under the U.S. Detention Alternatives, he was released on bail and was free to live but had to report his travel to USCIS frequently and show up on court day. But Moreno, who now lives near Columbus in Ohio, apparently missed his last court appearance.
A former USCIS official said in an interview, "There are witnesses who show that there are many people who start absconding after entering the United States according to the methods in the video, so the question is obvious, how many people are still absconding?"
On Tuesday, Moreno posted multiple short edited videos and cried in front of the camera, saying that since his account was blocked last Saturday, he had been receiving threatening messages saying that he was going to kill him.
With a runny nose, he said: "I am in danger in the United States! I need protection! I am persecuted! They have blocked my account! Relatives, please see what dangers my family has encountered, they have deleted my account, those people with power are threatening me, save me!"
In another video, he said: "Fellow relatives, they got what they wanted! These people are jealous of me, so they persecuted my family! The reason why these things happened is that you are so evil!"
"They want to kill people!"
Moreno doesn't seem to have any plans to stop creating content, and on Wednesday he shared a new video of himself showing off that he has a few hundred dollars to spend without working.
(Showing off in front of the video that he doesn't have to work but can count money and count his soft hands)
One of Moreno's videos that went viral instructed his fans on how to "hack" empty rooms in the United States and protect themselves with "squatter rights" when discovered, which states that "if a house is unoccupied, you can take it for yourself." ”
Before that, Moreno was also on fire when he asked Venezuelans to unite to help a 15-year-old Venezuelan immigrant who shot a tourist in Times Square in the United States and tried to shoot a New York police officer.
As Venezuela's economy collapsed and migrants poured into the U.S.-Mexico border, the video calling on Venezuelans to protect a murderer went viral and was retweeted among Venezuelans.
(Sometimes he also posts videos saying that he takes his daughter to the street to beg)
Many Venezuelans on social media have called him a clown, accusing him of using his situation to become an influencer, while sparking resentment among native Americans against immigrants who want to work hard and get rich in the United States.
Daniel Laplana posted on the social platform X (the predecessor of Twitter) that "it is a shame for Venezuela that he (Moreno) has become popular for all sorts of wrong reasons." ”
Rafael Esturve, president of the Young Republican Club at the University of Pennsylvania and a Venezuelan-born American, said: "This guy is nothing but contempt and contempt, and as a Venezuelan immigrant, his ugliness is unbearable." ”
His coveted demeanor laid bare his incompetence and arrogance, and his image on public platforms tarnished Venezuela. ”
Others accuse him of deliberately accumulating hatred in order to gain more traffic and make a profit by getting more TikTok Venezuelan users to follow him.
Indeed, Moreno's followers have tripled when his first video went viral in February, when his first video went viral, with fewer than 219,000 followers already tripling last week when his account was banned.
On Friday, Moreno live-streamed himself sleeping, and there were 270 people watching this completely contentless video online, and even tipping.
(Screenshot of Moreno's live video of himself sleeping on Friday)
One of the fans left a message: "You can still make money while sleeping, you are the best!"
Moreno has been spotted with videos of him and his daughter begging on the street, but others boast that he bought himself a car with government handouts for his infant daughter.
(Moreno, who shows off in the video that he used the government's relief money for his daughter to buy himself a car)
But in a separate video, he explains that he lives under a bridge, saying that he is trying to save money to rent a house.
Many of his fans see him as a comedian, and some have commented that he deliberately made these videos by taking advantage of Americans' prejudice against immigrants.
But whatever Moreno's intentions, his remarks have already drawn resentment of immigrants among already wary Americans, especially in the context of large numbers of Venezuelans fleeing their country and entering the United States.
Moreno's TikTok has a message saying: "We Americans are going to vote in November this year, and we will let Venezuelans get back to Venezuela as soon as possible." ”
Another message read: "I hope you can go back to your country with your children, because you have caused a lot of trouble!"
Venezuela is the world's largest migrant country, with 7.7 million people living outside of Venezuela, more than even Ukraine and Syria, which are still at war.
Venezuela has suffered from political, economic and humanitarian crises over the past decade, and some of the necessary necessities would be ridiculously expensive if you stay in the country. Many people have fled their home countries to march on the surrounding Latin American countries, but in the last three years they have turned their attention to the United States, and Moreno is part of this vast army.