World’s biggest TikTok star Khaby Lame flees US after being detained by ICE

Khaby Lame, the world’s biggest TikTok star, has fled the US after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Senegalese-Italian influencer, who has over 162million followers on the social media platform, is known for parodying complicated “life hack” videos.

He is one of the most high-profile figures to be impacted by President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on alleged immigration violations. Lame, 25, was detained at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada last Friday (June 6).

A spokesperson for ICE told The Guardian that the TikToker (real name Seringe Khabane Lame) was released the same day, and had since left the US.

They added that Lame had arrived in the States on April 30, and claimed that he had “overstayed the terms of his visa”.

However, the US visa waiver program states that Italian citizens can “travel to the United States for business or tourism for stays of up to 90 days without a visa”. Lame was granted Italian citizenship in August 2022, having lived there since he was one year old.

The influencer was granted a voluntary departure from the US, allowing him to avoid a deportation order on his immigration record. The latter order could have led to him being banned from the country for up to a decade.

Lame has not yet commented publicly on the situation.

As The Independent reports, the MAGA, Gen-Z influencer Bo Loudon – who is friends with the President’s youngest son, Barron Trump – claimed he had “personally taken action” to have Lame deported.

“No one is above the law!” he wrote on X/Twitter. “I’ve been working with the patriots at President Trump’s DHS to make this happen. He was just ARRESTED in Vegas and is in ICE CUSTODY!”

Lame attended the 2025 Met Gala in New York on May 5, ahead of being detained and subsequently fleeing the US the following month.

The TikTok star’s exit from the States comes amid ongoing protests against ICE’s raids of several workplaces in Los Angeles over alleged immigration violations.

In response to the protests, Trump authorised the deployment of the National Guard – which was allowed to carry out anti-protest operations over the following 60 days.

Last weekend, Finneas claimed he had been tear-gassed by the National Guard at a “peaceful” protest in LA. “Fuck ICE,” he wrote on social media about the incident. Later, he added: “If you are into this fascist shit you are small and weak and will lose.”

Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello has attended a protest against ICE too, calling on people to “defend LA”. Elsewhere, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong expressed his support by telling ICE to “fuck off”.

The peaceful protests have turned more intense and violent following the National Guard’s involvement, with police cars being set on fire, and rocks and more items being thrown (per Associated Press).

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