Milo Yiannopoulos was an early Trump supporter and once worked at Breitbart. Then ICE arrested him at a New Orleans airport

The Trump administration said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Milo Yiannopoulos at the New Orleans airport on Friday. Public ICE detention records confirmed that he was in custody, but did not say where he was being held.

The Homeland Security Department said Mr. Yiannopoulos had overstayed his visa and was issued a final deportation order in July. Officials indicated that the order means he faces possible removal from the country.

The department publicized the arrest, circulated a mug shot, and warned other immigrants to “take control of their departure” by self-deporting. Mr. Yiannopoulos did not respond to messages seeking comment, The New York Times reported.

Homeland Security said he overstayed a visa and received a final deportation order in July

The arrest follows what the Times described as Trump administration efforts targeting foreign citizens as they travel through airports. The report said immigration agents in plain clothes have, in recent months, taken targets at check-in counters and arrival gates with information provided by airlines to the Transportation Security Administration.

Mr. Yiannopoulos is a British citizen who has lived in the United States since 2015, the Times reported. The paper said he entered that year to join the staff of Breitbart News on a non-immigrant visa reserved for people with “extraordinary ability.” Other cases have drawn notice when ICE acted years after a visa expired.

The Times said he was a prominent supporter of Donald J. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. In addition to his work at Breitbart, the paper said he was briefly offered a speaking slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2017.

The Times reported that he fell from public favor after the publication of a video in which he condoned sexual relations with boys as young as 13 and laughed off the seriousness of pedophilia by Roman Catholic priests. Conference organizers rescinded the invitation, the paper said, and he resigned from Breitbart under scrutiny for his remarks.

The Times said he was banned from the site then known as Twitter in 2016 for leading a harassment campaign against a Black actress. His account was reinstated in 2022 by Elon Musk after Musk purchased the platform and later renamed it X, the paper reported.

More recently, the Times said, he served as a temporary staffer for Marjorie Taylor Greene and worked for the fashion brand of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. In 2022 he claimed credit for organizing a dinner for Mr. Trump and Mr. West that also included Nick Fuentes. Mr. Yiannopoulos claimed the meeting was an ambush meant to “make Trump’s life miserable.”

Two years later, the Times reported, he joined Mr. West’s exploratory campaign for president. The paper said he has been a particular target of Laura Loomer. The two were once close allies, with Mr. Yiannopoulos supporting her unsuccessful run for Congress in 2020, but they had a public falling out, according to the report.

Since late 2024, Ms. Loomer has been calling for him to be deported, claiming that he was in the country on an expired visa, the Times said. In a phone call on Friday, Ms. Loomer took credit for the arrest and said she had long ago notified the Department of Homeland Security of potential issues with his immigration status.

“Loomered!” she said. “I have been saying this should happen for a long time and now it did.” Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, wrote on X, “Deport immediately,” and “Good riddance.”

The Times said Mr. Yiannopoulos himself had reveled in Mr. Trump’s mass deportations, calling for ICE checkpoints at supermarkets and gas stations and “total legal immunity for ICE agents when they’re on duty.” Separate coverage described how Trump reversed an ICE vehicle-stop pause.