Earlier today, TMZ reported that right-wing agitator Milo Yiannopoulos had been detained by ICE in a Louisiana holding center. Hours later, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed the snatching, calling one of the original fomenters of the Gamergate movement an “illegal alien” who was being deported for “violating our nation’s laws.”
Officials said he was taken into custody on August 27 at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. “Yiannopoulos legally entered the country on May 14, 2019, through New York City, New York. He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” the Department of Homeland Security wrote in a statement. “Yiannopoulos was issued a final order of removal by an Immigration Judge on July 22, after failing to show up for his immigration hearing. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal.”
On August 27, ICE arrested Milo Yiannopoulos, an illegal alien from the United Kingdom, at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) in Kenner, Louisiana. Yiannopoulos legally entered the country on May 14, 2019, through New York City, New York. He chose to… https://t.co/Hk6QBUmGDI pic.twitter.com/DbIhv8Z6PI
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) August 28, 2026
The statement continued, “Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
Yiannopoulos was reportedly visiting the state for an upcoming concert by Ye, who the right-wing commentator has been closely associated with during the rapper’s turn toward antisemitism and apparent support for Nazism. Yiannopoulos, who supported Trump’s election in the past, called for ICE crackdowns in June 2025. “California needs ICE checkpoints at supermarket entrances, gas stations, strip malls, intersections and government buildings, with on the spot deportation for anyone who can’t prove they are in the US legally,” he wrote on X. Below the tweet was the logo art for the dystopian point-and-click sim Papers, Please.
California needs ICE checkpoints at supermarket entrances, gas stations, strip malls, intersections and government buildings, with on the spot deportation for anyone who can’t prove they are in the US legally. pic.twitter.com/7ayF69ih4c
— MILO (@Nero) June 8, 2025
“That’s the wildest thing: When I made it, I felt like ‘the relevancy of this is dropping. It was an issue, but things are going to get better from here,’” Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope said in an interview last year. “It blows my mind that it’s only becoming more and more relevant over time. Honestly, it’s a tragedy.”
Yiannopoulos was one of the earliest proponents of the harassment campaign Gamergate in 2014. He popularized the hashtag and the movement’s attacks on feminism while he was writing for Breitbart at the time. His editor, Steve Bannon, who would later go on to become a close advisor to Trump, said Yiannopoulos was a pivotal figure in galvanizing young reactionaries online. “I realized Milo could connect with these kids right away,” Bannon told author Joshua Green for the 2017 book, Devil’s Bargain. “You can activate that army. They come in through Gamergate or whatever and then get turned onto politics and Trump.”
Now the consequences of that army have come for Yiannopoulos.