Khaby Lame. AFP file photo.
New York: Khaby Lame, the widely popular TikTok personality with millions of followers, has left the United States after being detained by immigration agents in Las Vegas for allegedly overstaying his visa.
The Senegalese-Italian influencer, whose legal name is Seringe Khabane Lame, was detained on Friday at Harry Reid International Airport but was allowed to leave the country without a deportation order, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed in a statement.
Lame arrived in the United States on April 30 and "overstayed the terms of his visa," The Associated Press on Wednesday quoted the ICE spokesperson as saying.
The 25-year-old rose to international fame during the pandemic without ever saying a word in his videos, which would show him reacting to absurdly complicated "life hacks." He has over 162 million followers on TikTok alone.
"His detainment and voluntary departure from the United States comes amid President Donald Trump's escalating crackdown on immigration, including raids in Los Angeles that sparked days of protests against ICE, as the president tests the bounds of his executive authority," noted the report.
A voluntary departure, which was granted to Lame, allows those facing removal from the United States to avoid a deportation order on their immigration record, which could prevent them from being allowed back into the country for up to a decade.
