British far-right political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported back to the UK from the US after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Louisiana, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.Yiannopoulos, 41, was arrested on Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport after arriving in the US. He had entered the country legally in May 2019 but later overstayed his visa, according to DHS.An immigration judge issued a final order of removal on July 22 after Yiannopoulos failed to appear for an immigration hearing, AP News reported.A DHS spokesperson said Yiannopoulos was sent “back to his home country” on Friday, describing him as an “illegal alien from the United Kingdom”.“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” the spokesperson said, according to the BBC.
Who is Milo Yiannopoulos?
Yiannopoulos, who grew up in Kent, England, rose to prominence as an editor at conservative US website Breitbart News. He later worked with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and was also associated with former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.A vocal supporter of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, Yiannopoulos has backed the Trump administration’s tougher immigration policies.He has previously called for mass deportations and urged ICE to deport people unable to prove they were legally in the US.Yiannopoulos later became critical of Trump while continuing to support parts of his political agenda.He has courted controversy over comments about immigrants, Islam, feminism, transgender people and other issues.In 2017, he resigned from Breitbart and was disinvited from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after comments about sexual relationships between adults and minors resurfaced. He later apologised and said he had been discussing his own experiences as a child.His arrest was welcomed by far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who has publicly feuded with Yiannopoulos. She claimed credit for reporting his alleged immigration status and said on social media that he had already been sent back to the UK.
