The far-right commentator and Kanye West aide was arrested at Louis Armstrong International in New Orleans on Thursday.
ByJaelani Turner-Williams
August 30, 2026
Milo Yiannopoulos has landed in the United Kingdom after being deported by U.S. immigration authorities less than 48 hours after agents pulled him off a plane in New Orleans.
ICE agents detained the far-right political commentator on Thursday (August 27), as he stepped off a flight at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Yiannopoulous, a former aide to Kanye West, was eventually transferred to a federal holding facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, a hub the agency regularly uses for deportation flights.
From Alexandria, agents transported the 41-year-old to an airport in a separate state to board his flight to Britain, per TMZ. UK authorities confirmed Yiannopoulos had arrived on British soil after stepping off the plane.
DHS officially announced his removal today, a day after the deportation took place, and released a mug shot captured following his arrest. “He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” the department posted on social media. A spokesperson confirmed that Yiannopoulos had been sent “back to his home country,” characterizing him as an “illegal alien from the United Kingdom.”
The legal groundwork for the removal was laid on July 22, when an immigration judge issued a final order of removal against Yiannopoulos after he failed to appear for a scheduled hearing. Federal authorities say he had remained in the country past his authorized period of stay after originally entering the U.S. through New York City in May 2019. He had previously held an O-1 visa but never became a U.S. citizen.
Yiannopoulos had been in New Orleans in connection with Kanye West, whose show at Caesars Superdome was scheduled for Friday evening, the night after the arrest. Yiannopoulos served as West’s chief of staff during the Ye 2024 presidential campaign and, at the time of his detention, was working as the rapper’s spokesman, though the two had separated professionally in the same year.
