An illegal immigrant and TikTok influencer has received backlash after telling his followers to band together and help bail out another illegal immigrant who shot a tourist and recklessly shot at police.
Leonel Moreno, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, lives in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio with his partner and their three-month-old daughter.
On Feb. 12, he posted a video to TikTok encouraging his followers to raise money to bail fellow Venezuelan Jesus Alejandro Rivas-Figueroa out of jail.
This is the society NYC voters created.
Good job https://t.co/J5aM5mjBxM— Victims Rights (@victimsrightsNY) February 25, 2024
Rivas-Figueroa, 15, was accused of shooting a tourist in the leg in a store in Times Square when he and his friends attempted to steal merchandise. When confronted by a loss prevention associate, Rivas-Figueroa was caught on camera pulling out a gun. Aiming for the associate, he missed and shot a tourist in the leg.
When officers pursued him, Rivas-Figueroa fired on police, with thousands of bystanders around. He was later apprehended.
Despite the charges, Moreno has asked his followers, which is approximately 300,000, to “unite” to get the teenager out of jail.
“I invite you to look for [his] mother and all of us join to pay the bail so that this young Venezuelan feels that you’re not alone in difficult times, but remembers that there is a God up there who sees,” he said in a recent TikTok video, translated by the New York Post.
“Today it could be him, tomorrow it could be you…” he continued. “He did something wrong, it’s okay. You don’t know when God is going to put you in a situation like the one this young man is in. We are going to unite forces so that this child is free and has an opportunity.”
Moreno is no model illegal immigrant. He bragged in his videos how he cons Americans into giving him money. In one TikTok video, Moreno gloated about making $275 from “three hours [of] asking for money at traffic lights,” encouraging fellow Venezuelans to do the same.
“[In the USA] everything is given away [if] you know how to look,” he said in the video, according to a translation.
In a TikToK video posted last year, he taught his followers how to steal.
Attention @ColumbusPolice, @Walmart @WalmartOrg @USCIS @DHSgov @ICEgov
This Venezuelan, Asylum seeker is posting tiktok tutorials, teaching others like him how to steal in stores at USA his tik tok username is leitooficial_25 pic.twitter.com/dwH7L8aqDh
— jax smith (@jaxsmit83822211) May 2, 2023
He also boasted about being on government assistance, reporting how much stuff he could get.
Moreno’s behavior has gotten the attention of politicians on both sides. Republican New York City Councilman Joseph Borelli sarcastically stated that it’s illegals like Moreno that “win the hearts” of New Yorkers. His behavior certainly does not make anyone feel bad for illegals entering the country.
“We absolutely don’t need to start importing criminals or boosting crowdsourcing campaigns to spring them from jail. The influencer better start warning his followers: don’t come to the United States to commit crimes,” Democratic Councilman Robert Holden said.
What is even more astonishing is that Moreno thinks that he has such a huge following and impact that he can help get Rivas-Figueroa out of jail, even though there is no bail set. Everything in the U.S. may be “given away,” but no amount of money is going to help Moreno get his way.
