Anti-immigrant provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos deported by ICE

Milo Yiannopoulos, a far-right provocateur who called for the Department of Homeland Security to set up Immigration and Customs Enforcement checkpoints in order to carry out "on the spot" deportations for anyone in the country illegally, has been deported by the agency, DHS told USA TODAY on Aug. 29.

"On August 28, ICE deported Milo Yiannopoulos, an illegal alien from the United Kingdom, back to his home country," the department said in a statement given to USA TODAY.

A day prior, DHS said, ICE arrested Yiannopoulos at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Kenner, Louisiana. Yiannopoulos legally entered the country on May 14, 2019, through New York City and "chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation's laws," DHS said.

Yiannopoulos was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on July 22, after failing to show up for his immigration hearing.

Yiannopoulos rose to prominence as a right-wing commentator in the years leading up to the first Trump administration. He wrote for Breitbart News, giving voice to neo-Nazi and white nationalist groups, and became known for his controversial university campus tours, where he railed against everything from feminism and Islam to the Black Lives Matter movement and transgender issues.

He has worked on-and-off with the rapper formerly known as Kanye West dating to 2022 and was in Louisiana ahead of an Aug. 28 concert headlined by the controversial artist. Yiannopoulos acted as West's campaign manager during West's 2024 presidential campaign.

Yiannopoulos' arrest comes after he championed ICE as recently as June 2025.

"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," Yiannopoulos said in a post on X, where he goes by the username Nero.

"If ICE has 90,000 employees, and all we are asking for is 10,000 deportations a day, that's 9 agents per illegal," Yiannopoulos said in another X post, on Jan. 25, 2025. "More than enough to cover investigation, apprehension and removal. What are they all waiting for?"

Contributing: Michael Loria