British commentator Milo Yiannopoulos deported from US for visa violations

Milo Yiannopoulos, a 41-year-old British far-right commentator, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and deported to the UK on Friday for overstaying his visa and failing to appear for an immigration hearing. An immigration judge issued a final removal order on July 22 after he did not show up for the scheduled hearing, according to CBS News reporting. Yiannopoulos flew into the US in May 2019 and exceeded the duration of his authorized stay. According to NBC News reporting, he was in New Orleans ahead of a concert by the musician Ye, which took place Friday evening at the Caesars Superdome. The deportation carries particular resonance given Yiannopoulos's public statements on immigration enforcement. In June 2025, according to CBS News, he posted on social media: "California needs ICE checkpoints at supermarket entrances, gas stations, strip malls, intersections and government buildings, with on the spot deportation for anyone who can't prove they are in the US legally." In 2025, per BBC World reporting, he wrote: "We have got to deport millions and millions of people. Without that, nothing else matters." Last year, per the BBC, he called for "total legal immunity for ICE agents when they're on duty." The Trump administration publicized Yiannopoulos's arrest and deportation on Friday to promote its voluntary deportation program, which offers undocumented immigrants $3,000 and a free flight home for self-deportation, according to NBC News reporting. The Department of Homeland Security wrote on X, per NBC News: "Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the [Customs and Border Patrol] Home App." Loomer wrote on X, per BBC World: "This subversive foreign agent is already out of the United States and DHS tells me he's NEVER allowed to come back to the United States ever again." Yiannopoulos served as tech editor at Breitbart until February 2017, when he resigned following backlash over comments about cross-generational relationships. He later apologized for those remarks and said he did not advocate for illegal behavior, stating he was speaking from his own experience of child sexual abuse, according to NBC News reporting. Yiannopoulos was disinvited from speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference around that time. Yiannopoulos was an early supporter of Donald Trump during the 2016 election and headlined an event called Gays for Trump during the Republican National Convention, per BBC World. In March 2026, however, per the BBC, he wrote on X that Trump had "lost his way, bought off by foreign interests." In 2020, per BBC World, Yiannopoulos assisted Kanye West in the rapper's unsuccessful presidential bid. He also worked for former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, per BBC World reporting.