LOS ANGELES—GayVN Award-winner Milo Miles was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at a Canadian airport in January of this year as he was en route to attend and present at the 2026 GayVN Awards. While he won during the ceremony, he is now barred from entering the United States for at least 10 years, or unless government authorities authorize him.
LGBTQ Nation was the first outlet to report on Miles' ordeal, and the story has rapidly been picked up by other outlets. Miles spoke with AVN Monday about the experience.
Based in Toronto, Ontario, Miles is a popular star who received multiple nominations at the 2026 GayVNs and won Best Oral Scene as part of an ensemble in the Carnal+ Original production Deeper Deep Throat. Originally born in Medellin, Colombia in 1994, he emigrated to Canada with his family, seeking the safety of a stable democracy, as his birth home was ravaged by drug-cartel violence and ongoing civil unrest by anti-government groups.
"I was detained in Toronto at preclearance," Miles shared in a phone interview with AVN. He was scheduled to fly out of Toronto Pearson International Airport, which is one of several Canadian airports with CBP preclearance stations.
According to the CBP's website, the agency's preclearance program is "the strategic stationing of CBP personnel at designated foreign airports to inspect travelers prior to boarding U.S.-bound flights."
This essentially determines that certain foreign airports will be staffed with CBP agents, many carrying firearms, according to Miles, to screen foreign nationals entering the United States. After landing in the U.S., they are treated like domestic arrivals, so they usually skip customs and immigration lines. Miles explained, "Being Latino, an adult content creator, I had heard that people had been banned in the past.
"So, I hired immigration lawyers," he continued. "It was two or three years ago. ... They all said the same thing: there's not really a way" to legally work in the United States doing porn, "unless you marry someone and get a green card.
"It was explained to me like this: 'If a border agent found out that I did porn, that would fall under the category of sex work. And to them, sex work equals prostitution. After Trump got elected, the concern kind of started growing even more about this, I was told."
Acknowledging these risks, Miles explained that he took "preventative measures." This includes enrolling in the NEXUS program. Miles said, "I have NEXUS, which is a form of global entry between Canada and the United States." According to Customs and Border Protection, individuals enrolled in NEXUS are "pre-screened travelers" who travel between the United States and Canada via points of entry along the land, sea and air borders.
"I've had this for many years now," Miles said. "It's supposed to streamline the process of crossing the border because we have to pre-check with Canada, at least at the airport here in Toronto at Pearson. However, especially in the last year, I've noticed that whenever I cross, there seem to be more questions than usual being asked, even though it's normally supposed to be a straightforward process because of the facial recognition software."
A dual citizen of Canada and Colombia, Miles resides at his home in Toronto. He has primarily ventured to the United States for the purposes of work, including both productions and collaborations with other adult entertainment performers. He went on to explain that it took eight hours across two days at the preclearance station for him to learn that he is barred from entering the United States under the allegation that he is engaged in unlawful activity, namely prostitution.
Miles provided AVN with the documentation issued to him by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and CBP defining why he was barred from entering the United States until 2036. In the document, a transcript of one of the several interrogation sessions Miles was subjected to detailed him being questioned by a CBP officer, alleging he engaged in prostitution despite there being clear differences between adult movie production and escorting.
Miles admitted to the CBP agent, under the constant threat of being charged with committing criminal fraud at a U.S. global port of entry, that he previously engaged in escorting in addition to his adult movie work. He defined his work as an escort as engaging in a consensual liaison with another consenting adult who paid him for his time.
Under U.S. federal law, CBP agents are granted a wide berth in their discretionary power to bar an individual from entrance into the United States regardless of time, length of the visit, or previous lawful visits.
"You appear inadmissible to the United States ... in that you are an alien who is coming to the United States to engage in prostitution or has engaged in prostitution within ten years of the date of application for a visa, admission, or adjustment of status," the documents provided to Miles indicate. "You are currently engaging in prostitution or were coming to the United States to engage in prostitution."
In fact, he was coming to the United States to attend the 2026 edition of the GayVN Awards. Regardless, the ban on admission for the next decade was the most crushing blow for Miles, he said.
"The one thing that I think kept me grounded throughout the whole experience, even though I knew where things were headed, was knowing that I was very thankful that this was happening in Toronto," he explained. "Regardless of what happens at this airport, I'll still be able to go home and sleep in my own bed and to know that I'll still have that fundamental freedom that God gave to Canada.
"It's a very unfortunate thing," Miles said, alluding to his life partner, who is a U.S. citizen. His life, as Miles explained, is now in a state of flux and adjustment as he expected to live in the United States for his career. His experience in Toronto left him bitter, especially with the role CBP agents can play in foreign countries. "It's more of, like, a psychotic attack," he charged. "Even though I was clearly dealing with agents who didn't seem to care about equity, diversity or inclusion, and who came across as homophobic, it wasn't just about those individuals.
"This appears to be a systemic bias and a broader issue within the department, though not necessarily across the entire federal government," he concluded.
AVN contacted CBP for comment, but received no response by the post time.
