An Australian political activist and online provocateur who mocked Billie Eilish’s anti-ICE rhetoric says he was deported from the United States after immigration authorities questioned him over social media posts joking about moving into the singer’s California home.
Drew Pavlou, 24, claimed in a series of X posts that he was detained for roughly 30 hours at Los Angeles International Airport before being denied entry into the country. Pavlou speculated that Eilish’s legal team contacted the Department of Homeland Security, prompting his removal.
“Billie Eilish got me deported from the US — I think her legal team contacted DHS,” Pavlou wrote, posting a selfie with a police officer in the background. He said immigration officials repeatedly questioned him about posts in which he claimed he planned to fly to the United States and move into Eilish’s Malibu mansion, insisting the statements were satire.
DREW PERFORMANCE ART UPDATE
Billie Eilish got me deported from the US – I think her legal team contacted DHS
I spent 30 hours at LAX immigration trying to explain that my shit posts were just a joke and that I didn’t actually plan to personally move into her mansion
Honestly… https://t.co/R4ynQEor3c pic.twitter.com/8eVCcBE5Jr
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦🇹🇼 (@DrewPavlou) February 15, 2026
“I spent 30 hours at LAX immigration trying to explain that my sh*t posts were just a joke and that I didn’t actually plan to personally move into her mansion,” Pavlou wrote. “Honestly most of the agents were nice and laughed at the idea but there was nothing I could do.”
Pavlou’s posts were a direct response to Eilish’s remarks during her acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards, where she declared, “No one is illegal on stolen land,” before adding, “F–k ICE.”
In the days following the speech, Pavlou launched a crowdfunding campaign claiming he would travel to the United States and attempt to move into Eilish’s home, echoing her “stolen land” framing. “I am flying to the USA next Friday to attempt to move into Billie Eilish’s beachside Malibu mansion,” he wrote, adding, “No human being is illegal on stolen land.”
The fundraiser was later removed after the platform said it could not verify his plan or the recipient of the donations. Pavlou subsequently launched a new fundraiser on GiveSendGo seeking money to fly to California and “buy” the property.
The mansion Pavlou referenced was not owned by Eilish herself but by her brother, Finneas O’Connell, and had been sold in 2022 for $5.6 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. The home was later destroyed in the Palisades Fire. Pavlou said he was unaware of that fact when he created the fundraiser.
In follow-up posts, Pavlou leaned into the irony of the situation, mocking the outcome as an unintended endorsement of border enforcement by leftist figures.
“She literally said ‘no one is illegal on stolen land’ but called ICE on me,” Pavlou wrote. “Honestly amazing performance art — I somehow managed to get Billie Eilish and American liberals to endorse border control and deportations.”
Pavlou also claimed immigration officials questioned him extensively about his past activism, including his opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, describing the experience as “legitimately insane.”
Neither Eilish nor her representatives have publicly commented on Pavlou’s claims, and DHS has not confirmed whether any contact occurred between the singer’s legal team and immigration authorities.
Still, the episode has drawn attention online as a case study in the tension between celebrity activism and real-world immigration enforcement — and as Pavlou framed it, proof that even slogans about “stolen land” have limits when it comes to the expense of the sloganeers.
