The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is apparently not making exceptions for people who once traveled in MAGA circles.
British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart editor and Yeezy executive who became a prominent figure on the political right during Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, is in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Louisiana awaiting removal from the country.
ICE detained Yiannopoulos Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. “Yiannopoulos was issued a final order of removal by an Immigration Judge on July 22, after failing to show up for his immigration hearing. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal,” the spokesperson said.
DHS said an immigration judge entered a final removal order against Yiannopoulos on July 22 after he failed to appear for an immigration hearing. The department added that the Trump administration is “working diligently to ensure that aliens in our country illegally can no longer fly unless it is out of our country to self-deport.”
A representative for Yiannopoulos could not immediately be reached.
Born in England, Yiannopoulos rose to prominence during Trump’s 2016 campaign while working as an editor at Stephen K. Bannon’s Breitbart. He became one of the most recognizable figures associated with the alt-right, though he never gained broad acceptance among mainstream conservatives because of misogynistic remarks, associations with white supremacists and antisemites, and other inflammatory comments, noted The New York Times.
Among the most damaging was his claim that a romantic relationship between a 13-year-old boy and an adult could be consensual, remarks that cost him publishing and speaking opportunities. He later attempted to reinvent himself as “ex-gay” and worked without pay for then-Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia).
His relationship with the Trump movement has also been complicated. His support for Trump has fluctuated, and more recently he has criticized the president. In December, Yiannopoulos appeared on Tucker Carlson’s program, while last year he appeared on a podcast hosted by Candace Owens, another former Trump ally who has since broken with the president and feuded publicly with MAGA activist Laura Loomer.
Loomer told The Washington Post that she has contacted ICE, DHS and the FBI about Yiannopoulos since 2024, including approaching the FBI after he posted threats calling for violence against her. She claimed his detention was “100 percent” the result of her efforts to highlight his immigration status.
“Who else reported that Milo was an illegal alien?” she said.
DHS did not immediately respond to Loomer’s claim.
Yiannopoulos also has a complicated history with Trump personally. As chief of staff at Yeezy, the company owned by rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, Yiannopoulos said he was responsible for bringing white supremacist Nick Fuentes to a 2022 dinner with Ye and Trump at Mar-a-Lago, an episode that created political trouble for Trump shortly after he launched his 2024 campaign.
Yiannopoulos later told NBC News that he arranged Fuentes’s appearance “just to make Trump’s life miserable.” He resigned from Yeezy in 2024, citing reports that Ye planned to enter the adult-entertainment business, and was later sued along with Ye by eight employees alleging a hostile workplace. Yiannopoulos has denied the allegations.
Whatever Yiannopoulos’s complicated history with Trump and the broader MAGA movement, his detention underscores a straightforward point about the administration’s immigration policy: having once been famous on the right does not appear to buy an exemption.
The administration says Yiannopoulos entered legally, overstayed his visa, failed to appear for his immigration hearing and was ordered removed. ICE is now carrying out that order.
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