ICE Deports Right-Wing Provocateur Influencer Milo Yiannopoulos | Today’s news

(Bloomberg) — Federal immigration authorities said they deported right-wing provocateur and online influencer Milo Yiannopoulos after he was detained and charged with overstaying his visa.

Yiannopoulos was arrested at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans on Thursday after a federal immigration judge ordered his deportation on July 22 when he missed a court appearance, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

The agency said on Saturday that Yiannopoulos was deported on Friday.

Yiannopoulos, a British media personality and former editor of conservative outlet Breitbart News, was a supporter of President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Yiannopoulos claimed he helped broker a 2022 meeting between the president and rapper Ye. According to the Hollywood Reporter, he recently started a public relations and management company that provides advice to celebrities.

Although Yiannopoulos entered the country legally in 2019, he “decided to overstay his admission in violation of the laws of our country,” the department said in a statement.

The US is offering $3,000 and a free flight to people who self-deport as part of Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration. The administration peaked at nearly 50,000 arrests in July, according to information collected and published by the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles. As part of this surge in arrests, immigration agents have targeted foreigners passing through domestic airports, including people claiming to be visa holders or green card applicants.

Laura Loomer, a right-wing online personality and Trump supporter who clashed with Yiannopoulos, posted on X that she had reported him to ICE and the FBI.

(Update with Yiannopoulos deportation starting with the first paragraph.)

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