AGENCY
new delhi, june 11
The world’s most-followed TikTok star Khaby Lame has left the U.S. after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for allegedly overstaying his visa. The popular TikTok personality, whose legal name is Seringe Khabane Lame, was detained on Friday, 6 June 2025, at the Harry Reid International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada. According to an ICE spokesperson, the social media sensation left the country without a deportation order.
This situation arises as part of U.S. President Trump’s increasing crackdown on immigration, which led to the Los Angeles protests. A voluntary departure was granted to Lame, allowing him to avoid a deportation order on their immigration record—an action that could have barred his reentry into the U.S. for up to a decade. Such departures are discretionary, according to ICE’s guidelines, and do not entail “a removal order and related immigration consequences.”
The Senegalese-Italian influencer had arrived in the US on April 30 and “overstayed the terms of his visa,” said the ICE spokesperson. Khaby Lame has not publicly commented on his detainment.
The 25-year-old TikToker had gone viral on TikTok during the Covid- 19 pandemic. He is known for his videos in which he silently mocks overly complicated “life hack” videos through his signature gesture. Born in Senegal, he moved with his family to Italy when he was one year old. Khaby Lame has over 162 million followers on TikTok alone. With his evolving internet fame, he signed a multi-year partnership with designer Hugo Boss in 2022.
He had attended the Met Gala in New York City in May 2025, days after arriving in the US.
Bo Loudon, a conservative Gen Z influencer, took credit for Khaby Lame’s removal in a post on X. Loudon claims to be best friends with former President Trump’s son, Barron, and his Instagram page is filled with photos giving a thumbs-up alongside the president and his son. “I discovered that he was an illegal,” Loudon wrote on X.
“No one is above the law!” he added.
