Anti-immigrant provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos deported by ICE after arrest in New Orleans

The Trump administration deported far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos to the United Kingdom shortly after his arrest in New Orleans one day earlier. Yiannopoulos, who rose to prominence as a campus speaker and editor at the right-wing website Breitbart during the first Trump era, was arrested Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The Independent was not immediately able to reach Yiannopoulos for comment.

Far-right blogger Laura Loomer, an influential outside adviser to the Trump administration who had sparred with Yiannopoulos in the past, told The Washington Post she was “100 percent” the reason the activist had been detained. On social media, Loomer said she reported Yiannopoulos to authorities after he allegedly made threatening posts about her, including one alleged post from March featuring her photo and the caption “target practice.” “I’m simply one of many people who was threatened with violence by Milo when he was living in America as an illegal alien,” she wrote on X. Yiannopoulos was reportedly set to publish a new book, Ex Gay, under an imprint from former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.

The firebrand lost a previous book deal in the wake of past remarks, resurfaced in 2017, in which Yiannopoulos said relationships could be consensual between a 13-year-old boy and an adult. Following the resulting scandal, Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart but remained active in right-wing circles, helping manage the 2024 presidential campaign of the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who was facing criticism at the time for antisemitic remarks. Yiannopoulos claims he was the one who invited white supremacist Nick Fuentes to an infamous 2022 dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Donald Trump and Ye.

Yiannopoulos also worked as an unpaid intern for now-former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies