British far-right commentator of Greek descent Milo Yiannopoulos was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana and deported to the United Kingdom on Friday.
According to the US Department of Homeland Security, Yiannopoulos legally entered the United States through New York City on May 14, 2019 but later overstayed his visa. An immigration judge issued a final order of removal on July 22, 2026 after Yiannopoulos failed to appear at his immigration hearing.
A controversial figure, Yiannopoulos has long been known for promoting conspiracy theories and supporting Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. He served as an editor at Breitbart from 2014 to 2017. His outspoken views on Islam and feminism made him a polarizing figure, but he continued to voice controversial and unpopular opinions. In 2022, Yiannopoulos served as an intern for US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. He later worked with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and rapper Kanye West on West’s short-lived 2024 US presidential campaign. Yiannopoulos subsequently stopped working with West before resuming his work with the rapper in 2026.
Life and family of Milo Yiannopoulos, who was deported by ICE
Born Milo Hanrahan, Yiannopoulos grew up in Chatham, Kent, England. His father is of Greek and Irish ancestry, while his German-born mother is allegedly Jewish, leading Yiannopoulos to describe himself as Jewish. His parents divorced when he was a child. According to the BBC, his maternal grandmother was also Jewish.
Yiannopoulos was raised by his mother and her second husband but has said he did not have a good relationship with his stepfather. As a teenager, he lived with his paternal grandmother and later chose to adopt her surname. He attended Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury but was expelled. He later enrolled at the University of Manchester but dropped out before graduating and then studied English at Wolfson College, Cambridge, where he was expelled in 2010.
After leaving university without a degree, Yiannopoulos landed a job at The Catholic Herald. In 2009, he moved into technology journalism with The Daily Telegraph. His Telegraph columnist biography described him that year as someone who “writes skeptically about Web 2.0 and social media but enthusiastically about the internet in general.” In 2011, Yiannopoulos launched The Kernel, a London-based online technology magazine.
Changing views
Always the provocateur, Yiannopoulos built a reputation for courting controversy, associating with alt-right, neo-Nazi, and anti-Semitic groups while shifting his views seemingly at a moment’s notice. He used passwords that referenced historical Nazi events and was vehemently opposed to Islam over what he described as its treatment of women and connection to terrorism. At the same time, he expressed hostility toward lesbians. His views eventually led to bans from Twitter in 2014 and Facebook in 2019.
On immigration, Yiannopoulos cheered on ICE raids in 2025, calling for “total legal immunity for ICE agents when they’re on duty.” That same year, he wrote, “We have got to deport millions and millions of people. Without that, nothing else matters.” He also advocated on social media for “on the spot deportation for anyone who can’t prove they are in the US legally.” Ironically, the far-right commentator was arrested by ICE on August 27 and deported to the UK the following day.
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