Singaporean blogger Amos Yee, 27, faces potential deportation from the United States after a brief release from an Illinois prison, according to reports from the Straits Times.
Yee, who has been serving a six-year sentence for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and sexual grooming, was released from the Danville Correctional Centre yesterday, only to be returned to custody moments later. Initial notifications via the Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) system indicated his release, followed by a second alert seconds later showing he had been taken back into prison.
Supporters had previously noted delays in his release due to the lack of a suitable residence away from minors, with authorities attempting to place him in a halfway house.
A blog post dated October 6 revealed that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had served Yee papers that could potentially revoke his asylum status. Illinois Department of Corrections records now list his projected discharge date as “undetermined.”
Yee has lived in the US since late 2016 and was granted asylum in March 2017 following multiple clashes with Singaporean authorities. He first gained attention in 2015 for posting a video critical of the late Lee Kuan Yew and was jailed multiple times for hate speech and publishing obscene material.
His most serious offenses occurred in 2019 when he solicited nude images and engaged in sexual role play with a 14-year-old girl, despite being aware of her age. He pleaded guilty in a US court and received a six-year prison sentence in 2021.
Yee was first paroled on October 7, 2023, with a scheduled sentence completion in October 2026, but was returned to custody a month later for violating parole conditions. As a registered sex offender in Illinois, he is barred from internet use and from being near locations frequented by children without state approval.
With his latest return to custody, Yee’s immigration status remains uncertain, and authorities are expected to decide whether he will be deported to Singapore.
