British conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported from the United States to the United Kingdom after immigration authorities arrested him in Louisiana for allegedly remaining in the country beyond his authorized stay, U.S. officials said Saturday.
The Department of Homeland Security said Yiannopoulos was sent back to Britain on Friday. Authorities said he had legally entered the United States in May 2019 but subsequently overstayed. An immigration judge ordered him removed on July 22 after he failed to appear for an immigration hearing, according to a DHS spokesperson.
Yiannopoulos was taken into custody Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Representatives for Yiannopoulos did not respond to requests seeking comment on his deportation.
Yiannopoulos became widely known for his outspoken conservative activism and provocative commentary on feminism, Islam and immigration. He has also been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies.
Immigration authorities initially announced Yiannopoulos’ arrest Friday, saying the British national had entered the United States legally through New York City in May 2019 before remaining beyond his authorized period. DHS said an immigration judge issued the July 22 removal order after Yiannopoulos failed to attend his scheduled immigration proceeding.
“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” a spokesperson for DHS wrote in an emailed statement.
ICE’s online detainee tracking system did not disclose where Yiannopoulos was being held following his arrest. It instead directed relatives and attorneys seeking information to the agency’s office in Alexandria, Louisiana, which serves as a major hub for international deportation flights.
Yiannopoulos’ representatives did not respond to another request for comment following his detention, and it was not immediately known whether he had an attorney representing him in the immigration case.
More recently, Yiannopoulos has worked for rapper Ye, previously known as Kanye West, who was scheduled to perform in New Orleans on Friday night.
Yiannopoulos has spent years as a prominent and controversial figure in conservative political circles, frequently drawing attention for his attacks on feminism, Islam and immigration. His own immigration case drew particular attention because of his outspoken support for President Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“Zero immigration for the next 20 years. No ifs, no buts,” Yiannopoulos wrote on the social platform X last year.
His detention Thursday occurred as federal immigration authorities have sharply increased arrests across the country as part of President Trump’s broader immigration enforcement campaign.
Conservative activist Laura Loomer, who has feuded publicly with Yiannopoulos for years, quickly celebrated news of his arrest on social media.
“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.
Yiannopoulos became an especially polarizing figure in 2017 during what he dubbed his “Troll Academy Tour,” a series of appearances on college campuses around the country. His visits prompted heated demonstrations and, in some instances, physical confrontations, with critics accusing him of promoting hate speech while supporters portrayed him as a defender of free expression. BuzzFeed reported around that period that Yiannopoulos had maintained close relationships with individuals who identified themselves as white nationalists.
He remained involved in conservative political and media circles in subsequent years. The Washington Post reported that he served as an intern for then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2022 before later managing Ye’s brief 2024 presidential campaign.
Most recently, Yiannopoulos has served as a spokesperson for Ye, whose own public profile has been marked by controversy over antisemitic statements for which the rapper subsequently apologized.
{Matzav.com}
