The wife of Venezuelan migrant TikTok star Leonel Moreno is said to be distraught after she was banned from visiting her husband in federal prison.
Moreno, 27, was arrested in Columbus, Ohio, and is now in federal custody. state pursued by ICE since crossed the border illegally at Eagle Pass, Texas in April 2022.
Veronica Torres now complains that she doesn’t even know where her husband was taken and was seen crying outside an airport hotel in Gahanna, a Columbus suburb.
“We don’t know where they took him and I can’t see him,” he said. The New York Post. “I can’t give you more information because I don’t know much.”
ICE records show Moreno is being held at the Geauga County Jail in Ohio, about 165 miles northeast of Columbus.
Verónica Torres, right, wife of Venezuelan TikTok migrant Leonel Moreno, left, claims she has no idea where her husband is after he was arrested and jailed earlier this week.
Moreno is being held in a federal prison in Columbus, Ohio, and his arrest came after he failed to attend court in Miami after crossing the border in 2022.
Veronica Torres, right, now complains that she doesn’t even know where her husband has been taken, after she was seen crying outside an airport hotel in Gahanna, a Columbus suburb.
ICE records show Moreno is being held at the Geauga County Jail in Ohio, about 165 miles northeast of Columbus.
Moreno was released as part of the Alternatives to Detention Program, which allows immigrant parolees to remain free while officials track them until their next court date.
He was due to appear in court in Miami in November 2022, but never showed up.
‘Moreno was told to report to the Enforcement and Deportation Operations office within 60 days of arriving at his destination, but did not report as required. On March 29, 2024, Moreno was arrested in Gahanna, Ohio, by agents from ERO’s Columbus office in Detroit and is currently detained pending further immigration proceedings,” an ICE spokesperson explained.
“ICE agents will come get him if he needs to be moved and they will take him to where needed,” Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand told The Post.
Moreno appeared to have long been goading authorities as the fugitive shared tips on how to break into empty homes and invoke squatters’ rights before bragging about how he lived off US government handouts on his TikTok account.
Leonel Moreno and his wife Verónica Torres are seen in many of their Instagram videos
Leonel Moreno had amassed half a million followers on TikTok with incendiary videos in which he takes on the persona of a stereotypical immigrant freeloader. His account is now suspended.
Aside from his ill-advised advice about squatting, the family seemed very close.
He had managed to amass more than half a million followers before the account was eventually suspended.
Moreno was particularly expressive and was something of an embarrassment to the authorities who seemed to have lost track of him.
But he ended up posting so many videos that it only served to give ICE many clues about his whereabouts.
In several of his videos, he often showed wads of bills that he claimed were the result of government donations and his request for cash.
“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said in an Instagram clip. “I came to the United States to mark my territory.”
‘You are hurt because I earn more than you without much work while you work like slaves, do you understand?’
On Tuesday, he posted a series of bizarre videos of him sobbing from a new account claiming to be a victim of persecution.
‘I am in danger of death in the United States! I need protection! I’m being chased! My account has been blocked!’ he said as the liquid fell from his nose.
Leonel Moreno and his wife Verónica Torres are seen in some of their Facebook photos
It seemed like Moreno had no plans to stop his particular brand of content, as he shared a clip on Wednesday counting hundred dollar bills.
Some of his other videos show him claiming to be begging for money on the streets with his young daughter.
Leonel Moreno, 27, sings lyrics in Spanish and waves a wad of $100 bills at the camera.
The family of three appears in dozens of videos posted to Instagram.
‘My people, I need you to pay attention to what is happening because my family is in danger. They deleted my TikTok accounts. I have received threats from powerful people. Aid!’
In another video he added: ‘My people, you have gotten what you wanted! Envy has come to my family! Everything that is happening is because of your evil!
‘They want to silence me!’
In a clip shared on Wednesday, he can be seen counting hundred-dollar bills and bragging that he doesn’t need to work to earn money.
In one of his now-viral videos, Moreno instructed his followers how to “invade” American homes and invoke squatters’ rights, stating that under American law, “if a house is not inhabited, we can confiscate it.”
TikTok told DailyMail.com that it has now suspended Moreno’s original account because it does not allow users to promote criminal content.
Moreno also made headlines in February after demanding that Venezuelans come together to help a 15-year-old migrant accused of shooting a tourist and trying to kill a New York police officer in Times Square.
The fugitive traveled to the United States with his wife and young daughter, who frequently appear in his clips.
The federal government has reportedly given the family $350 a week.
The videos have been widely shared as Venezuelan migrants fleeing the collapse of their country become one of the largest nationalities arriving at the US-Mexico border.
But many Venezuelans have taken to social media to denounce Moreno, accusing him of exploiting their situation to become an influencer while generating hatred against immigrants who plan to work for a better life in the United States.
Venezuelans represent the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than 7.7 million people outside their nation, even more than Ukrainians and Syrians.
It is a rare case of mass migration from a country that is not at war but has experienced one of the most extreme reversals of fortune in recent history after the socialist takeover 20 years ago.
Venezuela has suffered political, economic and humanitarian crises over the past decade, making food and other necessities unaffordable for those who remain.
The vast majority of those who fled settled in neighboring Latin American countries, but many began arriving in the United States in the last three years.