Former Breitbart Provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos Taken Into ICE Custody in Louisiana

British national Milo Yiannopoulos, a longtime fixture in far-right American political circles, has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Louisiana, according to federal records.

While the specific detention facility has not been confirmed, ICE’s online directory directs family members and legal counsel to the Enforcement and Removal Operations office in Alexandria, a processing center roughly 200 miles northwest of New Orleans.

In a statement to WIRED, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed that Yiannopoulos lawfully entered the United States through New York City in May 2019. “He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” the statement read. “Yiannopoulos was issued a final order of removal by an Immigration Judge on July 22, after failing to appear for his immigration hearing.” The spokesperson added that Yiannopoulos was taken into custody on Thursday, August 27, and “will remain in ICE custody pending removal.”

TMZ first reported the detention. Yiannopoulos previously resided and worked in the U.S., reportedly on an O-1 visa designated for individuals with extraordinary ability, but he has never held U.S. citizenship.

Yiannopoulos rose to prominence in U.S. politics as an editor at Breitbart News from 2014 to 2017. His tenure ended after comments he made regarding sexual relationships between adults and adolescents sparked widespread condemnation. Since then, he has moved in and out of right-wing circles; in 2022, he claimed responsibility for arranging a controversial dinner at Mar-a-Lago involving Donald Trump, Kanye West, and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

Yiannopoulos married his longtime partner in Hawaii in 2017. In 2021, he announced he had become a heterosexual Roman Catholic and revealed plans to open a gay conversion therapy center in Florida. He subsequently allied with Fuentes and former U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.

More recently, Yiannopoulos has served as a spokesman for Kanye West, who is scheduled to perform at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Friday. Yiannopoulos briefly joined West’s 2024 presidential campaign in late 2022 before departing after the rapper praised Adolf Hitler on Alex Jones’ Infowars program. The pair have repeatedly reunited and split in the years since, with Yiannopoulos alleging in 2024 that West was struggling with nitrous oxide addiction.

Throughout his career, Yiannopoulos has engaged in highly public feuds. Among his most vocal critics is conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who celebrated his detention on social media Friday and claimed partial credit for drawing authorities’ attention to his immigration status.

“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. “Milo is going to be deported back to the UK where he can live among the Muslims he has recently chosen to embrace. Today is a great day for America.”

Last summer, Yiannopoulos advocated for mass deportations on his own social media account. “There is one concrete thing we must insist on this administration delivering,” he wrote. “We have got to deport millions and millions and millions of people. Without that, nothing else matters.”

Updated Friday, August 28 at 5:00 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with a statement provided to WIRED by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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