TikTok Star Khaby Lame Leaves US After Being Detained By ICE
Khaby Lame has left the US after being briefly detained by immigration agents for allegedly overstaying his visa, according to The Guardian. The TikTok star, whose legal name is Seringe Khabane Lame, was detained on Friday, 6 June, at an airport in Las Vegas.
A spokesperson for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told the Guardian in a statement that he was released on the same day and has since left the country. Lame had arrived in the US on 30 April and had allegedly overstayed the terms of his visa.
Khaby Lame being detained by ICE
18-year-old Bo Loudon, who is a pro-Trump influencer, states that he flagged Lame’s immigration status to government officials. “I discovered he was an illegal who overstayed an invalid VISA, evaded taxes, and I personally took action to have him deported. No one is above the law!” he wrote on X.
He also stated that he had worked with immigration officials and the Department of Homeland Security to have Lame removed. Lame is Italian-Senegalese, and Italian citizens are allowed to travel to the US for business or tourism for stays of up to 90 days without a visa, according to the US visa waiver program.
About Khaby Lame
Lame was born in Senegal but moved to Italy with his family when he was one year old. He rose to fame through his TikTok videos after being laid off from his job during the pandemic. His “life hacks” videos, in which he performed tasks in silence, made Lame a global content creator. In 2022, he was listed in Fortune’s 40 Under 40 and Forbes’ 30 Under 30.
In 2024, Lame was named as one of Forbes’s top 10 content creators, and he is currently the most-followed user on TikTok. In February, Lame joined UNICEF as a Goodwill Ambassador.
Image: Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images
