Cry on the Rio Grande.
The jailed Venezuelan “immigrant influencer” who bitterly mocked America and urged border crossers to “break into abandoned houses” to his 500,000 TikTok followers now enjoys the glorious freedom he enjoyed in the US. “I miss my freedom!” he whined to the Post this week. ”
Leonel Moreno moaned Wednesday during a 30-minute videotelevision visit from inside the Geauga County Jail in Chardon, Ohio, that he is the victim of unjust “persecution.”
“I came to the United States because of the persecution in my home country…but they are doing the same thing to me in the United States. They are persecuting me,” Moreno, 27, cried.
“Everything in the media about me is misinformation. They are slandering me. They are misrepresenting me in the news…I am a good father, a good husband, a good son. I’m a good human being, I’m humble and I respect those who respect me,” Moreno, who spoke only Spanish and hid his face from reporters, continued. Video camera footage during the interview.
“I miss my whole life, I miss my freedom!” he cried.
As Moreno moved out of frame, the camera showed through a glass window an inmate wearing a blue striped jumpsuit sitting at five silver metal tables. At one point during the video visit, five inmates looked in his direction with grimacing faces, and some were screaming incoherently.
“What’s going on?” Moreno was heard muttering to himself.
“I’m worried they’re trying to kill me. They’re coming for my life – anyone!” he said.
Moreno said he has been in contact with his wife, Veronica Torres, since his incarceration, and told the newspaper that he asked her to “claim” an undisclosed amount in exchange for a “good interview” with Moreno. I insisted that they contact me. The Post does not pay for interviews.
On March 29, nearly two years after Mr. Moreno and Mr. Torres illegally crossed the southern border into Eagle Pass, Texas, on April 23, 2022, Immigration and Customs Enforcement fugitive operations officers arrived in Ohio. Moreno was handcuffed in Columbus, state.
ICE said he was admitted to the country under a parole program approved by the Biden administration, but failed to attend required check-ins with immigration officials.
The Venezuelans could also face federal firearms charges, according to sources and internal federal documents reviewed by the Post this week.
A series of videos from March 14 that remain on Moreno’s Instagram account include him holding up firearms at a gun store and asking his followers, “Which one do you like best?” The situation is shown.
But Moreno claimed he was accused of inflammatory videos on social media and, ironically, vowed to apply the First Amendment to any charges.
“If Leonel Moreno committed a crime or something, they would be right, but it’s my job to blame and this is unfair…Social media is my job.
“Right now, even if I want to say something, I can’t say it…We have become a repressive country instead of a free country where people can express whatever is in their hearts…America is not here to oppress. “That’s how it was made,” he said.
Previously, Moreno posted videos on TikTok and Instagram encouraging other immigrants to come to the United States and work because they can earn more money by begging on the streets and collecting government benefits. He said there was no need.
“I didn’t cross the Rio Grande to work like a slave,” Moreno said in an Instagram clip, waving a wad of $100 bills in front of his face.
In the same video, Moreno claimed he had enough money to support himself, Torres and their daughter, born in October, for at least 18 months without working.
Venezuelans also called on their compatriots to unite in support of a 15-year-old immigrant accused of shooting and wounding a tourist in Times Square on February 8.
TikTok shut down Moreno’s account last week, which had about 500,000 followers, but her Instagram profile remains active with more than 17,000 followers.
Moreno vowed in a March 17 Instagram video. “Yes, they closed my TikTok account, but I continue to make money on Facebook and Instagram. I will not be earning the same income, but I will get my TikTok account back. I will continue to make money. Masu.”
The social media personality insisted to the Post that the people appearing in his videos are simply fictitious.
“The person who appears in my videos, my character, is not the same person as Leonel Moreno. I am a different person. You cannot confuse one or the other. You cannot confuse my personality with real life.
“I have a sarcastic and black humor [in the videos]. That’s my job…Leonel Moreno is the opposite,” he said, declining to say whether he personally believed the shameful message he spewed in his own video.
“One is ‘Late Official’ – meaning ‘Official Late’ which is his nickname in Spanish – and the other is Leonel Moreno. All I can say is this – they are It’s something else,” he said.
