British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported from the US after immigration authorities arrested him in Louisiana, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
Yiannopoulos was returned to the UK on Friday after US authorities accused him of overstaying his lawful admission to the country, DHS said on Saturday.
An immigration judge issued a final order of removal on July 22 after Yiannopoulos failed to appear at an immigration hearing, according to a DHS spokesman.
Yiannopoulos was arrested on Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” a DHS spokesman said in a statement.
Yiannopoulos entered the US legally in May 2019 but remained after his authorised period of stay expired, according to DHS.
The immigration case has drawn attention in part because Yiannopoulos has spent years advocating restrictive immigration policies and attacking immigration and multiculturalism. He has supported former President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration agenda and has publicly called for sharply reducing immigration to the US.
In a social media post last year, Yiannopoulos called for “zero immigration for the next 20 years”.
His deportation therefore comes as the Trump administration intensifies immigration enforcement and targets people accused of violating US immigration laws.
Neither Yiannopoulos nor his representatives responded to requests for comment. He has not posted on his social media accounts since his arrest.
Yiannopoulos rose to prominence in the early 2010s as a provocative writer and editor at Breitbart News. He left the conservative website in 2017 after past comments about sexual relationships involving minors resurfaced. He later apologised for the remarks.
He became a prominent figure on the US conservative circuit through appearances at universities and political events, where his speeches frequently drew protests and clashes between supporters and opponents.
In recent years, Yiannopoulos has remained active in conservative political circles. He worked as an intern for former US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2022 and later became involved in rapper Ye’s 2024 presidential campaign.
