Milo Yiannopoulos, the far-right commentator and former chief of staff to Kanye West, has been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Louisiana, according to a Friday report from TMZ.
Yiannopoulos, 41, was reportedly taken into custody at an airport before being transferred to an ICE detention facility, the specific circumstances behind his detention have not been made public.
The detention comes as West, who now goes by Ye, is scheduled to perform Friday night at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, raising questions about whether Yiannopoulos’s presence in the state was tied to the concert, though that connection hasn’t been confirmed.
Yiannopoulos, who is British and not a U.S. citizen, served as Ye’s chief of staff for nearly two years before the two parted ways in 2024, and later took on a political operations role during West’s 2024 presidential campaign.
He previously made headlines within that orbit for accusing West’s dentist of supplying the rapper with nitrous oxide for recreational use, an allegation the dentist denied.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer, a longtime rival of Yiannopoulos amid a public feud between the two, celebrated news of his detention online and suggested she had played a role in bringing it about, writing on X, “Today is a great day for America.”
That claim has not been independently verified, and ICE has not publicly connected Loomer to the case.
As of Friday afternoon, Yiannopoulos remained in ICE custody, with no official explanation given for his detention or whether removal proceedings are underway.
