A gay Canadian adult-film model has claimed that U.S. border patrol agents questioned him over his sexuality before banning him from the U.S. over his escort work.
Milo Miles says he was traveling to Las Vegas out of Toronto’s Pearson Airport in January, where the incident occurred. In Toronto, those traveling to the U.S. undergo customs screening at the airport before flying.
According to the Canadian sex worker support organization, Maggie’s, U.S. Customs has the right to deny entry to people they believe have engaged in sex work, even if they have never been convicted of prostitution and/or are not traveling for work.
However, Miles, who became a Canadian citizen under refugee status after his family fled Columbia when he was a child, told LGBTQ Nation that his interrogation focused largely on his sexuality, with border agents questioning him about how he “had so many ‘gay clothes’” with him, and failing to understand why he was carrying Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) pills in his suitcase.“
I was subjected to derogatory comments, with an unsettling focus on my sexual orientation and my sex life,“ said Miles.
A spokesperson for Customs and Border Patrol alleged to The Independent that Miles “admitted to a CBP officer he received payment for engaging in prostitution in the United States—a crime—while in the United States, he was denied entry into our country.”
The agency also denied that Miles was interrogated for eight hours.
“All aliens entering the U.S. are subject to inspection under federal law. CBP may deny aliens entry into the U.S. for violating our nation’s laws.”
Speaking to The Independent, Miles said “from the very beginning [of the interrogation], all the questions centered around my sexuality…honestly, the entire experience was just so dehumanizing.”
The social media star described the incident as “the most painful event of my life.”
“This is coming from someone who came to Canada as a refugee, who witnessed his first shooting when he was six years old, who witnessed a plane crash when he was seven years old, who has had immediate family be the victims of gun violence in the past, and who thought that was all behind me.
“Now to think that I’m still being targeted because of my skin color, because of my ethnicity, because is the most disheartening thing that I’ve had to experience.”
Miles was flying to Las Vegas to present at the GayVN Awards on January 20, a high-profile event in the gay adult entertainment industry. He was then planning to travel to Florida to visit his partner.
Miles told LGBTQ Nation that he was initially stopped at the airport and interrogated for two hours, but customs officers found nothing and sent him home.
Due to the delay, he missed his flight and had to return the next day when he was flagged again.This time, he was interrogated for six hours without any food.
Agents went through his devices, uncovering his pornography work and messages with potential escorting clients in Vegas.
He told The Independent that at one point an agent started speaking in Spanish to him due to his ethnicity, and that throughout both interrogations he was not offered the chance to speak with a lawyer. He also said that from his perspective it appears as though his 10 year ban was given by one agent. He does not believe that agent spoke to any higher up before choosing to land on a 10 year ban.
Miles wonders whether, had he been interrogated by someone else, his ban would be different.
He admitted to agents that he does escort work, but that agents found no proof that his work involves exchanging money for sexual services.
Miles told The Independent that he has only ever exchanged time for money, proving a “boyfriend experience” for clients, not sexual services, but felt threatened into agreeing to the demands of the officers questioning him, ultimately confessing to the border patrol officer’s definition of prostitution and engaging in unauthorized employment.
Miles said he was ultimately pressured into confessing to the border patrol officer’s definition of prostitution and engaging in unauthorized employment.
Persons can be banned from the U.S. for participating in “prostitution and commercialized vice” and “crimes involving moral turpitude.”
Law professor Pooja R Dadhania told Novara Media, these laws are “grounded in turn-of-the-twentieth-century morality…[singling] out female sellers of sex as immoral and as threats to American marriages and families.”
Miles told LGBTQ Nation he believes he is one of several sex workers who have been flagged at the border due to facial recognition software.
A Daily Beast piece in 2023 detailed a number of sex workers being stopped at the U.S. border after getting flagged by facial recognition software matching them to their online content.
Sex worker ‘Sydney’, for example, left her phone at home in Canada when she traveled to the U.S. to visit her in-laws in 2024, as she did not want officers to find evidence of her work. However, she was stopped at Boston Logan airport when the facial recognition software matched her to a database of Canadian sex workers.
Since Sydney was banned, facial recognition of sex workers at the border has only grown as online sex work has grown too.
Despite knowing that being barred from the U.S. not only places a significant burden on his ability to access work but also separates him from his partner, with whom he was planning a life, Miles expressed gratitude that he was stopped in Toronto rather than in the U.S., saying that he fears he could have ended up in ICE detention.
“Avoid the United States at all costs,” Miles warned queer travelers thinking about going to the U.S. “It’s not worth it. It’s not worth it to put your life at risk.”
