British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has been arrested by US immigration agents in New Orleans, the Trump administration has confirmed. He was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers at the city's airport on Thursday (August 28), according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Visa overstay and removal order
Authorities have accused Yiannopoulos of overstaying his visa after entering the United States legally in May 2019 through New York City. An immigration judge issued a final order of removal on July 22 after Yiannopoulos failed to show up for his immigration hearing, a DHS spokesperson said.
They told the Associated Press: “He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws.”
Detention and legal status
ICE’s online detainee locator doesn’t say where Yiannopoulos is being held but directs family and legal representatives to the agency’s office in Alexandria, Louisiana, a deportation hub for international flights. Representatives of Yiannopoulos did not respond to a request for comment. It is unclear whether he has legal representation.
Yiannopoulos has been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, posting on X last year: "Zero immigration for the next 20 years. No ifs, no buts."
Career and controversies
The British national has most recently worked for the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who is scheduled to perform in New Orleans on Friday evening. Yiannopoulos is a well-known champion of conservative causes and has frequently taken provocative public positions criticizing feminism, Islam and immigrants. He has been especially supportive of President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Yiannopoulos rose to fame in the early 2010s as an incendiary writer for the conservative website Breitbart News. He resigned from the company in 2017 after a video of him endorsing paedophilia resurfaced online. He later apologized for the remarks and said he himself was a victim of sexual assault as a minor.
Reactions and context
Yiannopoulos’ arrest Friday comes amid a nationwide uptick in detentions as part of Trump’s immigration crackdown. Far-right conservative activist Laura Loomer swiftly took to social media to applaud Yiannopoulos’ arrest after years of public feuding between the two personalities.
“I was the first person to report on the fact that Milo was in the US illegally where he incited violence against President Trump and worked for Marjorie Traitor Greene,” Loomer wrote on X.
Controversy around Yiannopoulos ballooned in 2017 when he carried out what he called his “Troll Academy Tour” across college campuses nationwide. Fights broke out when some students protested Yiannopoulos’ appearances and accused him of hate speech, while others celebrated him as a champion of free speech. Around that time, Buzzfeed reported on Yiannopoulos’ cosy relationships with self-proclaimed white nationalists.
In recent years, Yiannopoulos continued to work in the orbit of conservative activism. In 2022, he was an intern for former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, according to the Washington Post. He subsequently ran the short-lived 2024 presidential campaign for Ye. Most recently, Yiannopolous has worked as a spokesperson for Ye, who has been beset by controversy of his own following antisemitic comments that the rapper has since apologized for.
