Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos detained by ICE

By Elizabeth Wolfe, Eduardo Cuevas, CNN

(CNN) — Controversial British figure Milo Yiannopoulos, who gained a reputation as a right-wing provocateur more than a decade ago, has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday.

Yiannopoulos was arrested on Thursday at a Louisiana airport, DHS said. He was still in custody as of Friday afternoon, according to the agency’s online detainee locator.

Yiannopoulos legally entered the country in 2019, but “chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” DHS added.

“Yiannopoulos was issued a final order of removal by an Immigration Judge on July 22, after failing to show up for his immigration hearing,” the agency said in a post on X. “He will remain in ICE custody pending removal.”

Yiannopoulos is known as a conservative firebrand. Among other public statements and appearances, he attracted considerable public attention after embarking on a bus tour of US college campuses he branded the “Dangerous F*ggot” bus tour, which he said was intended to promote free speech and bring his perspective to universities where he believed liberal ideas may dominate the campus conversation. His disparaging remarks about Muslims, transgender people and others drew outrage from many who argued the racist and hateful language was an attempt to stoke tensions on campus and should not be platformed by colleges and universities.

His appearances on some campuses drew loud protests. While many demonstrations were peaceful, Yiannopoulos’ visit to University of California, Berkeley in February 2017 resulted in the event being canceled after a large protest became violent and destructive and two Republican students were attacked, the university said at the time.

Yiannopoulos has voiced support of immigration enforcement as recently as last year. In a post on X, he called for ICE checkpoints in California supermarkets and other common areas and “on the spot deportation for anyone who can’t prove they are in the US legally.”

Far right influencer Laura Loomer, who has feuded with Yiannopoulos, said in a post on X Friday that she had reported him to ICE and the FBI.

His rise to prominence coincided with Donald Trump’s ascent in national politics and the president’s entry to the White House. Yiannopoulos had positioned himself as one of the president’s avid supporters, sometimes referring to Trump as “Daddy.”

In an interview with CNN in 2017, he connected the support he was receiving with the conservative movement that drove Trump’s successful campaign.

“People are tired of being told how to live, how to speak, what language they can use,” he said. “The strength of feeling in my crowds, the enthusiasm for me from the audiences is the same – the same instinct, the same sort of motivating force (that) put Trump in the White House.”

Though Yiannopoulos, who was born in England and worked for several years as an editor for Breitbart News, found footholds for his ideas among some conservative groups and college students in the US, he has seen his profile dwindle.

In 2016, Yiannopoulos was permanently banned from Twitter, now known as X. He was seen as an instigator of online attacks on Leslie Jones, the former Saturday Night Live comedian. Yiannopoulos’ account was eventually reinstated after Elon Musk bought the social media platform, and he had posted as recently as Thursday evening.

He came under intense scrutiny in 2017 after his comments appeared to condone pedophilia. He then resigned from Breitbart amid backlash to his comments, offering a rare apology though said his comments were deceptively edited.

Yiannopoulos previously said he was gay but in recent years has said he no longer identifies as such. He told Tucker Carlson last year, “mainstreaming homosexuality in the Republican Party is the great regret of my life.”

Yiannopoulos’ Telegram, which hasn’t had posts since at least January 2025, said he was opening a clinic in Florida that would help “men plagued by same-sex attraction.” Yiannopoulos also identified himself as a “retired civil rights icon.”

In June 2022, Yiannopoulos said in a Telegram post that he was an unpaid intern to former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a lighting rod Republican from Georgia.

Yiannopoulos also worked on the 2024 presidential campaign of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West who fell from grace after a series of antisemitic comments. Yiannopoulos was also Ye’s chief of staff to the rapper.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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CNN’s Michael Williams contributed to this report.