British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who once supported US President Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigration, has spoken publicly for the first time since his arrest and deportation in the US.
In an interview published on Tuesday, Yiannopoulos spoke to host Piers Morgan about his experience, saying he now knows what it means to be “really, really horrible.”
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“I didn’t really understand the physical reality of how atrocities are institutionalized in America,” Yiannopoulos said.
He spoke about his experience of being chained while in custody and criticized immigration authorities who treat ordinary detainees like criminals.
“All the people arrested are like members of the MS-13 gang, and it hurts a lot more than what you see on TV,” he said of the shackles he was forced to wear.
Yiannopoulos was arrested by US federal agents after arriving at the New Orleans, Louisiana, airport last Thursday. The 41-year-old conservative flamethrower was then sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in a “humiliating” and “disorienting” process.
“It was scary. I don’t think I’ve ever been this scared before,” Yiannopoulos said.
different accounts
Yiannopoulos is said to have legally entered the United States on May 14, 2019.
But Yiannopoulos later overstayed his visa, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Yiannopoulos claimed he was ordered deported in July after he missed a scheduled immigration inspection.
White House border czar Tom Homan echoed that assertion in an interview with CNN on Sunday, blaming Yiannopoulos for the deportation.
“He was ordered to appear in immigration court and he did not appear. The judge ordered him to be deported,” Homan told CNN’s Dana Bash. “He had his due process order removed by a federal judge and I removed him. It’s that simple.”
In his interview with Morgan, Mr. Yiannopoulos claimed that Mr. Homan was lying and suggested that his change in politics may have contributed to his deportation.
“I’m not going to do the right-wing demagogue thing anymore. I run a law practice for a living. You know, I’m an organized, organized person. I’m not fooling around on Twitter,” Yiannopoulos said.
“And I’m married to an American. There’s no reason to take this risk. There was no need to overstay my visa.”
“Cancelled” Green Card
Mr. Yiannopoulos told Mr. Morgan that after they married in 2017, he applied for an “adjustment of status” that would allow him to switch from a visa to a green card, giving him legal permanent residence in the United States.
But the U.S. revoked his green card without providing any evidence, Yiannopoulos said.
He also claimed that a notice of transfer was intentionally sent to his old address so that he could be deported.
“The government knew I wasn’t there. The government knew I wasn’t receiving these information. The government knew I had no idea what was going on and they did it anyway,” Yiannopoulos said.
Yiannopoulos called the process “illegal” and vowed to fight the “unjust” deportation in court.
“It’s clear that the government maliciously and in a very despicable way created a scenario where they scooped me up and expelled me to make an example of me,” he said.
Al Jazeera reached out to ICE and DHS for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
change stance
Yiannopoulos was once known as an ardent supporter of Trump. He even expressed enthusiasm for the mass deportation campaign and immigration restrictions that President Trump promoted when he won a second term.
In December 2024, for example, Yiannopoulos called for “zero immigration for the next 20 years.”
In June 2025, he also wrote that California should establish “immigration checkpoints at supermarket entrances, gas stations, shopping malls, intersections, and government buildings, and deport people on the spot if they cannot prove they are legally in the United States.”
But in an interview Tuesday, Yiannopoulos said he was “ashamed” to have supported the U.S. president.
He also expressed skepticism about Trump’s claims to deport the “worst of the worst,” noting that immigrants with no criminal records are being caught up in immigration raids.
“If ICE did its job and cleared America of people who rape, murder, murder, and sell drugs, and a few more people got caught in the dragnet, and I was one of them, no one would say much,” Yiannopoulos said. “But they’re not doing that.”
Yiannopoulos told Morgan that his time in custody gave him a new perspective on the criminal justice system.
“Maybe in the past, when people talk about trauma, I’ve been a bit of a cuss,” he says. “But now I know that. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
Feud with Laura Loomer
Yiannopoulos’s deportation from the United States comes after a years-long public feud with Trump ally Laura Loomer. After news of Mr. Loomer’s detention surfaced, he seemed to take credit for it.
She also noted Mr. Yiannopoulos’ collaboration with former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a fellow Trump supporter turned critic.
“I was the first to report the fact that Milo was in the United States illegally, where he was inciting violence against President Trump and working for the traitor Marjorie Greene,” Loomer wrote to X. “When Milo asked me to assassinate him, I reported him to ICE and the FBI.”
When asked what role Loomer played in the deportation, Yiannapoulos said he was “more of a danger to himself than to others.”
He also repeated questions he had asked in the past about her mental health.
“I think in some ways it’s hard to say anything against her because I don’t think she’s in good shape,” he said. “And when Laura Loomer’s show falls apart, as I’m sure it always does, I think she’s going to need a lot of prayers.”
