Ex-Gay Commentaor Milo Yiannopoulos Arrested By ICE Over Alleged Visa Overstay

British far-right commentator and self-described “ex-gay” activist Milo Yiannopoulos has been arrested by US immigration authorities after allegedly overstaying his visa and failing to attend an immigration hearing.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Yiannopoulos at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Louisiana on Thursday, August 27, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The arrest comes after Yiannopoulos entered the US seven years ago.

Milo Yiannopoulos arrested in the US

The British national legally entered the United States through New York in May 2019 but remained after his visa expired, DHS said.

An immigration judge reportedly issued a final removal order against Yiannopoulos on July 22 after he failed to appear at an immigration hearing.

“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement as reported by AP News.

ICE’s online detainee database confirmed Yiannopoulos was in custody, although it did not publicly identify his detention facility.

Yiannopoulos’ detention comes amid US President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, a policy agenda the far-right commentator has strongly supported.

In a post on X last year, Yiannopoulos called for an end to immigration, writing: “Zero immigration for the next 20 years. No ifs, no buts.”

Yiannopoulos rose to international prominence during Trump’s first presidential campaign while working as an editor at far-right outlet Breitbart News.

He resigned from Breitbart in 2017 after earlier recorded remarks about sexual relationships between adults and minors resurfaced. Yiannopoulos subsequently apologised and said he had been sexually abused as a child.

He later worked for Republican former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and was famously associated with rapper “Ye”, formerly known as Kanye West. Yiannopoulos managed Ye’s short lived 2024 presidential campaign and served as chief of staff at the rapper’s Yeezy company before famously severing ties with the rapper over his decision to launch a porn division of his company.

From gay conservative celebrity to “ex-gay” activist

However, Milo was most well known for his public profile as a far-right gay Republican, who later came out as an “ex-gay.”

In 2017, just weeks after marrying a man in Hawaii, Yiannopoulos urged Australians to vote against marriage equality during the national postal survey.

“My instinct would be to vote against it,” Yiannopoulos said at the time.

“The paramount consideration is not those gay couples—it is religious freedoms” he said.

“I’m gay and a Catholic. The highest priority for me is making sure no church, no believer anywhere, is required to violate their religious conscience.”

“My gut would be to vote against it.”

The comments later earned him the “Silliest Comment Made from Within the LGBTI Community” category at Australia’s 2018 GLORIA Awards, which highlight homophobic and transphobic public commentary.

Yiannopoulos also used his platform to target transgender people. During his previous appearances in Australia, he described trans people as “mentally ill” and claimed trans children “are just gay”.

In 2021, Yiannopoulos announced that he was “ex-gay” and said he planned to establish a conversion therapy centre in Florida.

He has since escalated his public attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community. In a December 2025 interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, Yiannopoulos denied that homosexuality exists and expressed regret over his role in making gay identity more acceptable within Republican politics.

“I have to be honest with you, I bear some responsibility for this because it was me, ten years ago — mainstreaming homosexuality in the Republican Party is the great regret of my life, more so than anything I’ve done to my own soul, which is a lot,” Yiannopoulos said.

A controversial history in Australia

Yiannopoulos toured Australia in 2017, triggering demonstrations outside his appearances. Police used capsicum spray when protesters and supporters clashed near his Melbourne event, where several people were injured, and at least two were arrested.

He was later billed to return as part of another far-right speaking tour, but the events were repeatedly postponed and eventually cancelled.

In 2019, Australian authorities refused Yiannopoulos a visa on character grounds. The Department of Home Affairs warned that his presence could “incite discord in the Australian community or in a segment of that community”.