TikTok star Khaby Lame's ICE detainment highlights a growing problem in the US

TikTok star Khaby Lame was reportedly detained at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, yesterday and has since left the United States, according to CTV News. An ICE spokesperson told the outlet that Lame had arrived in the U.S. on April 30th and allegedly “overstayed the of his visa…” This detainment arrives while protests and unrest continue in Los Angeles in response to ICE raids within local communities. Lame was granted a voluntary departure from the U.S., which saves a deportation order on their immigration record, something that could have prevented the TikTok star from returning to the U.S. for up to a decade.

TikTok star Khaby Lame has left the U.S. after reportedly being detained by ICE

Khaby Lame has amassed over 162 million followers on TikTok after rising to fame during the pandemic with his iconic wordless reaction videos. The twenty-five-year-old was born in Senegal but moved to Italy as a child and reportedly has Italian citizenship. At the time of writing, the social media star has not commented on his detainment.

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There is some intriguing math to be done here, as some commenters have pointed out since the story was posted to Reddit yesterday. If it is true that Lame arrived in the U.S. on April 30th, then at the time of his detainment, he couldn’t have been in the country longer than 41 days. From the U.S. government's own site, visitors from participating countries (Italy is included) can take part in the Visa Waiver Program if they are staying in the country for 90 days or less. Travel must qualify under a tourism or business visa and have a valid Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). It’s hard to imagine how Lame would have fallen outside of these parameters.

Foreign travel to the U.S. is becoming increasingly unappealing, as more and more travelers from around the globe continue to report detainment and denied entry. This energy was palpable at Summer Game Fest this past weekend, even before protests erupted in the surrounding city. It was likely a combination of factors, but there did seem to be fewer foreign developers and media present at the event.

After spending the weekend in Los Angeles, had the news not been pouring in, the developing situation would have been easy to miss. Smoke on the horizon is genuinely not uncommon in Los Angeles after living there for a year. The only way I knew it was the burning Waymos was because of social media updates. I often walked to and from the Summer Game Fest campus and never saw any signs of violence. Los Angeles had not been invaded or occupied; it was as peaceful as LA can be on any typical day, until ICE arrived and began abducting people from their communities.

As Reddit s pointed out in the top comments, Khaby Lame’s situation was ideal. He is famous, comparatively wealthy, and detained in an international airport. Many more individuals will not get a major news story written about their situation. “I thought they were going after the gangs and murderers,” writes another , pointing out the absurdity of detaining a TikTok star when the stated goal was to deport criminals.

In another report by MSNBC, a prominent conservative social media appears to have taken credit for Lame’s detainment. I will not share the individual’s name here because I’d rather not give them the attention. This individual allegedly “heard from a few of his friends” and “business partners” that Lame had overstayed his visa and shared it with the Trump istration. If all it takes for a government official to detain someone is rumors from a third party, then what’s to stop any individual from being detained?

to be skeptical of what you see online, even from government officials. If you live in the US, peaceful protests are taking place in cities across the country this weekend in solidarity with the events unfolding in Los Angeles. Of course, there’s no pressure to attend, but the more people who stand up against tyranny and fascism, the better. Show the world that you are not complicit in this.

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