British far-right commentator and self-described “ex-gay” activist Milo Yiannopoulos has been arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement after allegedly overstaying his visa.
Yiannopoulos was detained at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Louisiana on 27 August.
The Department of Homeland Security says he entered the United States legally through New York in May 2019, but remained after his visa expired. An immigration judge issued a final removal order against him on 22 July after he failed to appear at a scheduled hearing.
ICE Says Yiannopoulos Overstayed His Visa
DHS said Yiannopoulos had “overstayed his welcome” and remained in the country in breach of US immigration law.
ICE records confirm he is currently in custody, although authorities have not publicly disclosed where he is being held.
The arrest comes during the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown, which Yiannopoulos has previously supported.
He has also publicly called for a dramatic reduction in immigration to the United States.
From Gay Conservative Celebrity To ‘Ex-Gay’ Activist
Yiannopoulos first became internationally known as an openly gay conservative commentator during Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign.
He worked as an editor at Breitbart News before resigning in 2017 after old comments about sexual relationships between adults and minors resurfaced. Yiannopoulos later apologised and said he had been sexually abused as a child.
In 2021, he announced that he was “ex-gay” and later said he wanted to establish a conversion therapy centre in Florida.
He has since become increasingly hostile towards LGBTQ+ rights and transgender people.
Long History Of Anti-LGBTQ+ Commentary
Despite once being one of the most visible gay figures in conservative politics, Yiannopoulos has repeatedly argued against LGBTQ+ equality.
In 2017, shortly after marrying a man in Hawaii, he urged Australians to vote against marriage equality during the national postal survey, saying religious freedom should take priority.
He has also described transgender people in derogatory terms and has publicly rejected the legitimacy of trans identities.
In a 2025 interview with Tucker Carlson, Yiannopoulos went even further, claiming that homosexuality itself does not exist and describing his role in making gay identity more acceptable within Republican politics as one of his greatest regrets.
Deportation Proceedings Could Follow
Yiannopoulos has not publicly detailed his legal response to the removal order.
Because an immigration judge has already issued a final removal order, his detention could now lead to deportation from the United States unless that order is successfully challenged.
For now, he remains in ICE custody.
The arrest carries an obvious irony given Yiannopoulos’s own support for aggressive immigration enforcement, but the legal question is relatively straightforward: US authorities say he remained in the country after his visa expired and failed to attend his immigration hearing.
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