SINGAPORE, Nov 21 — Singaporean blogger Amos Yee is now facing deportation from the United States after being briefly released on parole from an Illinois prison, according to the Straits Times.

Yee, 27, had been serving a six-year sentence for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and sexual grooming when he was released from the Danville Correctional Centre yesterday. 

But the reprieve lasted moments. 

A notification from the Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) system first showed he had been freed, before a second alert “just seconds later” indicated he had been returned to custody.

The Singapore daily said Yee’s supporters had noted this month that his release had been delayed because he lacked a suitable residence away from minors and that prison authorities had been trying to place him in a halfway house.

A blog post dated October 6 also said that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had served him papers potentially revoking his asylum status. 

Records from the Illinois Department of Corrections now list his projected discharge date as “undetermined”.

Yee, who has lived in the US since late 2016, was granted asylum in March 2017 after multiple run-ins with Singaporean authorities. 

He first gained notoriety a decade ago after posting an expletive-laden video attacking the late Lee Kuan Yew just days after the former prime minister’s death.

In 2015, he was jailed for four weeks for hate speech against Christians and for publishing an obscene image of Lee online. 

The following year, he was sentenced to six weeks in jail and fined US$2,000 (RM8,500) for further hate speech targeting Christianity and Islam.

His most serious offences came in 2019, when, at age 20, he solicited nude photographs and engaged in sexual role play with a 14-year-old girl despite being told her age. 

He pleaded guilty in a US court and, in 2021, was sentenced to six years in prison.

Yee was first paroled on October 7, 2023 and had been due to complete his sentence in October 2026. But he returned to custody a month later for breaching parole conditions. 

As an Illinois sex offender, he was barred from using the internet or being near locations frequented by children without approval from state authorities.

The latest developments now leave his legal status in limbo, with immigration authorities expected to determine whether he will be deported.