The man who entered the United States illegally and then became a TikTok sensation for telling migrants to break into and squat American homes is believed to have been a member of a Venezuelan military intelligence unit, according to a new report.
The 27-year-old “influencer,” Leonel Moreno, was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March after posting a series of videos advising illegals to squat in U.S. homes and taunting Americans about Joe Biden’s rampant flood of illegal immigrants.
Since his arrest immigration officials have been looking into his past, and according to the New York Post, they have discovered that Moreno was a sergeant in the Venezuelan general directorate of military intelligence.
The Venezuelan TikToker crossed into the U.S. at Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 23, 2022, and was apprehended by Border Patrol at that time. However, in keeping with Biden’s policies of catch and release, he was immediately released with dates to check in with ICE. Like many migrants in that situation, he skipped out on those dates and the feds lost track of him until his arrest in Ohio in March.
But before his apprehension, Moreno had amassed more than 500,000 followers on TikTok by the time his account was removed.
In the video that made him infamous, Moreno told his followers in Spanish that he “found out that there is a law that says if a house is not inhabited, we can seize it.”
The video had earned 800,000 views before TikTok took it down.
Referring to highly controversial “squatter’s rights,” laws that exist in varying forms around the United States, Moreno said the rules allow for a “land invasion” of the United States by illegal migrants.
“That will be my next business, invading abandoned houses,” he said.
Other videos on his social media promoted illegal immigration and told immigrants to forget getting a job and to rely on handouts from the government or just begging on the streets.
“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said while waving a stack of $100 bills in an Instagram video as reported by the New York Post.
He went on to claim that he had grifted enough money to support himself, his wife, Veronica Torres, and their baby daughter.
The Venezuelan national also voiced support for Jesus Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa, the 15-year-old migrant who allegedly shot a woman in New York’s Times Square in February.
“I invite you to find [his] mother and [for] all of us to unite to pay the fines [so] that the young Venezuelan feels that he’s not alone during difficult moments,” Moreno told his TikTok followers. “Remember that up there there’s a God who sees everything [down here].”
The illegal migrant also portrayed himself as a victim when TikTok deleted his account and banned him from the social media platform.
He is still in federal custody.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston