Milo Yiannopoulos Deported from U.S. to United Kingdom Following ICE Action

Milo Yiannopoulos, a controversial British media figure, was deported from the United States after being taken into ICE custody in New Orleans on Thursday. Authorities cited an expired visa and an existing removal order as the basis for his detention.

The deportation took place on Friday, according to a statement released Saturday by a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. DHS oversees ICE.

The DHS statement did not disclose the destination, though the British newspaper The Telegraph, citing two senior US sources, reported that Yiannopoulos was flown back to the United Kingdom.

A DHS spokesperson said Yiannopoulos, age 41, was apprehended by ICE on Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The spokesperson noted that Yiannopoulos initially entered the U.S. lawfully in May 2019 via New York City but later remained beyond the permitted period, violating immigration statutes.

He had been given a final removal order by an immigration judge on July 22 after failing to appear for his scheduled hearing.

“He will remain in ICE custody until his removal is effected,” the spokesperson added. “The administration remains committed to preventing unlawfully present individuals from traveling domestically unless they are departing the country for self‑deportation.”

Yiannopoulos, a former ICE advocate who has called for swift deportations of those unable to prove legal residence, was reportedly on his way to a concert by rapper Ye (formerly Kanye West) when he was apprehended.

West headlined the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Friday. Yiannopoulos had been involved in West’s 2024 presidential campaign staff in 2022, and his social‑media profiles indicate he was associated with a company linked to the rapper.

Formerly a senior editor at Breitbart News, Yiannopoulos had also interned for former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. He later clashed with fellow far‑right commentator Laura Loomer, a Trump ally, who said she had reported his immigration status to ICE.

His stature once earned him a speaking invitation at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), following his early endorsements of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

However, after a video surfaced in which he appeared to condone sexual relations with boys as young as 13, he lost favor within many conservative circles.

He asserted that his own history of teenage sexual abuse gave him authority to discuss the topic, but he subsequently resigned from his senior editorial role at Breitbart.

In 2016, he was banned from Twitter—rebranded as X—after posting racist and misogynistic tweets targeting a Black actor in a Ghostbusters remake. The ban was lifted in 2022 following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform.

Just over a year prior to his ICE arrest, Yiannopoulos had posted online advocating for immigration checkpoints at California supermarkets, gas stations, strip malls, intersections, and government buildings, proposing immediate deportation for those unable to verify legal status.

He also posted a sarcastic remark questioning whether one should masturbate publicly or privately while observing an ICE raid, a comment made during the mass deportation efforts that have characterized Trump’s second term.

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