The jailed Venezuelan “migrant influencer” who viciously mocked America to his 500,000 TikTok followers and urged border crossers to “invade abandoned houses” now misses the glori…
nypost.com
‘Migrant influencer’ who encouraged squatting whines to NY Post that he’s a victim of ‘persecution’ in jailhouse interview
By
Social Links for Georgia Worrell
Published April 7, 2024, 6:04 a.m. ET
Cry me a Rio Grande river.
The jailed Venezuelan “migrant influencer” who viciously mocked America to his 500,000 TikTok followers and urged border crossers to “invade abandoned houses” now misses the glorious liberties he enjoyed in the US – whining to The Post this week that “I miss my freedom!”
Leonel "Snake Nose" Moreno moaned that he is a victim of unjust “persecution” Wednesday during a 30-minute-long video televisit from inside Geauga County Jail in Chardon, Ohio.
“I came here to the United States because of persecution in my country … But they’re doing the same thing to me in the United States – persecuting me,” Moreno, 27, wailed.
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The jailed Venezuelan migrant influencer, Leonel Moreno, now misses the glorious liberties he enjoyed in the US. leitooficial_25/Tiktok
“It’s all misinformation in the media about me. They’re defaming me. They’re misrepresenting me in the news … I am a good father, a good husband, a good son, a good person, humble, respectful to people who respect me,” continued Moreno, who spoke only Spanish and hid his face from the video camera’s view for the duration of the interview.
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“I miss my entire life – I miss my freedom!” he cried.
With Moreno out of the frame, the camera showed inmates in blue-striped jumpsuits sitting at five silver metal tables through a glass window. At one point during the video visit, five scowling inmates looked in his direction, with some indecipherably shouting at him.
“What is happening?” Moreno could be heard muttering to himself.
“I am afraid they’re going to kill me. They’re coming for my life – anyone!” he said.
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Leonel Moreno moaned that he is a victim of unjust “persecution” during a video televisit from inside Geauga County Jail in Chardon, Ohio. ICE
Moreno said he’s been in touch with his wife, Veronica Torres, since he’s been locked up, and insisted The Post contact her so she could “charge” an undisclosed sum for a “good interview” with him. The Post does not pay for interviews.
Immigrant and Customs Enforcement fugitive operations officers cuffed Moreno in Columbus, Ohio on March 29 – nearly two years after he and Torres illegally crossed the southern border into Eagle Pass, Texas on April 23, 2022.
He was allowed to stay in the country on a Biden administration-approved parole scheme — but then failed to appear for required check-ins with immigration officers, according to ICE.
The Venezuelan national could also face federal firearm charges, according to sources and internal federal documents reviewed by The Post this week.
A series of March 14 videos still on Moreno’s Instagram account show him holding and showing firearms in a gun store, and asking his followers “Which do you like best?”
But Moreno insisted he was thrown in the clink because of his inflammatory social media videos – and ironically vowed to use the First Amendment to fight any charges.
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“I came here to the United States because of persecution in my country … But they’re doing the same thing to me in the United States – persecuting me,” Moreno, 27, wailed. Leonel Moreno/Instagram
“If Leonel Moreno commits a crime or something then they would be right, but it’s because of my work, so this is unfair … Social media is my job.
“If I want to say something now, I can’t say it … We’ve become an oppressive country instead of a free country where we can express whatever is in our hearts … The United States was created to be that, not to oppress,” he said.
Previously, Moreno posted videos to TikTok and Instagram encouraging other migrants to come to the US, where he said they didn’t have to work because they could make more money from begging on the streets and collecting government handouts.
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Previously, Moreno posted videos to TikTok and Instagram encouraging other migrants to come to the US, where he said they didn’t have to work because they could make more money from begging on the streets and collecting government handouts. Leonel Moreno/Instagram
“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said in one Instagram clip while waving a stack of $100 bills in front of his face.
In the same video, Moreno claimed to have enough money to support himself, Torres, and their daughter – who was born in October – for at least 18 months without having to work.
The Venezuelan also called for his fellow countrymen to unite in support of the 15-year-old migrant who’s accused of firing shots that injured a tourist in Times Square on Feb. 8.
TikTok last week shut down Moreno’s account, which had roughly 500,000 followers, but his Instagram profile is still active and has more than 17,000 followers.
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Immigrant and Customs Enforcement fugitive operations officers cuffed Moreno in Columbus, Ohio on March 29 – nearly two years after he and Torres illegally crossed the southern border into Eagle Pass, Texas on April 23, 2022. leitooficial_25/Instagram
Moreno vowed in a March 17 Instagram video: “Yes, they closed my TikTok account, but I keep earning on Facebook and on Instagram. I won’t earn the same, but I am going to get my TikTok account back. I am going to keep earning money.”
The social media personality insisted to The Post that the person in his videos was just that – a fictional character.
“The person who is in my videos, my character, is not the same person as Leonel Moreno. I am a different person. We can’t confuse one with the other. We can’t confuse my character with my real life.
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“I have a sarcastic, dark humor [in the videos]. That’s my job … Leonel Moreno is the opposite,” he said, although he refused to answer whether he personally believes in the disgraceful messages he spewed in his videos.
“One thing is ‘Leito Oficial’” — which means “official Leito,” his nickname, in Spanish — “and another thing is Leonel Moreno. That’s all I can tell you – they are different things,” he said.
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