Right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos detained by ICE

What the report says

British political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has apparently been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to records cited by the BBC. The BBC reported that his name appeared in ICE’s inmate registry and that he was listed as being held in Louisiana, though the agency and Yiannopoulos had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.

Yiannopoulos, 41, is a British citizen who grew up in Kent and currently lives in the United States. He is known for his work as a former editor at Breitbart and for a stint as an employee of rapper Kanye West. The BBC noted that he has long been a prominent supporter of Donald Trump and of stricter immigration enforcement, including public praise for ICE agents.

The circumstances of the apparent detention were not clear in the BBC report. More broadly, Yiannopoulos has been a highly controversial figure in right-wing media and politics, often drawing criticism for inflammatory comments about transgender people, Muslims, Black Lives Matter, feminists and gay people. He has also been linked to the alt-right, although he has said he does not consider himself part of that movement.

The development matters because it involves a well-known pro-Trump commentator and a British national who is resident in the U.S., raising questions about immigration enforcement in a case that remains unresolved. As background, ICE maintains detention records for people in immigration custody, but the BBC said the exact reason for Yiannopoulos’s apparent detention had not been established.