Far-right British commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who once embraced United States President Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive immigration crackdown, has made his first public remarks after his US arrest and deportation.<\/p>\n
In an interview released on Tuesday, Yiannopoulos spoke to host Piers Morgan about his experience, telling the interviewer that he now knows what it\u2019s like to be \u201creally, really terrified\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI didn\u2019t really understand the physical reality of how institutionalised the brutality is in America,\u201d Yiannopoulos said.<\/p>\n
As he described having his hands and feet chained together while in custody, he criticised immigration authorities for treating ordinary detainees like criminals.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody arrested is like an MS-13 gang member, and it hurts a lot more than it looks like on television,\u201d he said of the manacles he was forced to wear.<\/p>\n
Yiannopoulos was arrested by US federal agents after arriving at the airport in New Orleans, Louisiana, last Thursday. The 41-year-old conservative firebrand was subsequently sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in a process he called \u201chumiliating\u201d and \u201cdisorienting\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was frightening, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever been frightened like that before,\u201d Yiannopoulos said.<\/p>\n
Differing accounts<\/p>\n
Yiannopoulos allegedly entered the US legally on May 14, 2019.<\/p>\n
But afterwards, Yiannopoulos overstayed his visa, according to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). It claimed Yiannopoulos was issued a deportation order in July after he missed a scheduled immigration hearing.<\/p>\n
White House border tsar Tom Homan echoed that assertion in an interview with CNN on Sunday, saying it was Yiannopoulos\u2019s fault he was deported.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was ordered to appear in immigration court. He didn\u2019t show up. The judge ordered him deported,\u201d Homan told CNN\u2019s Dana Bash. \u201cHe had his due process order removed by a federal judge, and I removed him. It\u2019s that simple.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his interview with Morgan, Yiannopoulos claimed Homan was lying and suggested that his shifting politics could have been a factor in his deportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really do, you know, the right-wing provocateur thing any more. I manage lawyers for a living. You know, I\u2019m an organised and together person when, you know, I\u2019m not being silly on Twitter,\u201d Yiannopoulos said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I\u2019m married to an American. There\u2019s no reason I would take a risk like this. I didn\u2019t need to overstay a visa.\u201d<\/p>\n
A \u2018cancelled\u2019 green card<\/p>\n
Yiannopoulos told Morgan that after he got married in 2017, he filed for an \u201cadjustment of status\u201d that allowed him to switch from a visa to a green card, which allows lawful permanent residency in the US.<\/p>\n
But the US cancelled his green card, Yiannopoulos said, without offering proof.<\/p>\n
He also claimed that notices\u00a0informing him of the change were deliberately sent to an old address so he would be removed from the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government knew I wasn\u2019t there. The government knew I wasn\u2019t getting these things. It knew that I had no idea what was happening, and they did this anyway,\u201d Yiannopoulos said.<\/p>\n
Yiannopoulos pledged he would fight his \u201cunjust\u201d deportation in court, calling the process \u201cunlawful\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quite obvious that the government has maliciously and deviously, in a very underhanded way, created a scenario in which they could scoop me up and eject me to make an example out of me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera reached out to ICE and DHS for comment but did not immediately hear back.<\/p>\n
Changing stance<\/p>\n
In the past, Yiannopoulos was known for being a vocal Trump supporter. He even expressed enthusiasm for the mass deportation campaign and immigration restrictions Trump pursued upon winning a second term in office.<\/p>\n
In December 2024, for instance, Yiannopoulos called for \u201czero immigration for the next 20 years\u201d.<\/p>\n
In June 2025, he also wrote that there should be immigration checkpoints in California, \u201cat supermarket entrances, gas stations, strip malls, intersections and government buildings, with on the spot deportation for anyone who can\u2019t prove they are in the US legally\u201d.<\/p>\n
But in Tuesday\u2019s interview, Yiannopoulos\u00a0said he was \u201cashamed\u201d to have supported the US president.<\/p>\n
He also expressed scepticism about Trump\u2019s claims to be deporting the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d, pointing out that immigrants without criminal records were being swept up in the immigration raids.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf ICE were doing its job and clearing America out of the people who rape, kill, murder, and sell drugs \u2013 and a couple of extra people got caught up in the dragnet, and if I was one of them \u2013 nobody would have very much to say,\u201d Yiannopoulos said. \u201cBut they\u2019re not doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yiannopoulos told Morgan that his experience being detained gave him a new perspective on the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think maybe, in the past, I\u2019ve been a little bit blase when people talked about their trauma,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I get it now, and I wouldn\u2019t wish it on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Feud with Laura Loomer<\/p>\n
Yiannopoulos\u2019s deportation from the US comes after a years-long public feud with close Trump ally Laura Loomer. After news of his detention surfaced, Loomer appeared to take credit.<\/p>\n
She also pointed to Yiannopoulos\u2019s work with former US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, another Trump supporter-turned-critic.<\/p>\n