Deporting Milo Yiannopoulos Is Part Of Trump Admin’s Latest Pivot To Turbocharge Removals

Federal immigration agents nabbed disgraced political provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos on Thursday. By Friday, he was back home in the United Kingdom.

The swift deportation of Yiannopoulos, 41, is part of a broader strategy the Trump administration is trying to adopt to move detainees out of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers and onto deportation flights as quickly as possible.

In Yiannopoulos’ case, he overstayed his visa and received a final order of removal on July 22 after failing to show up for an immigration hearing, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said.

TMZ, which first reported Yiannopoulos’ arrest by ICE, said agents nabbed him at an airport in Louisiana. He received his visa, which has since expired, in 2019, according to DHS.

During a CNN interview on Sunday, White House Border Czar Tom Homan revealed that for months the Trump administration has been working to deport ICE detainees as quickly as possible. He said Yiannopoulos’ case is just one example of the strategy.

“We’ve been working steadily the last few months on getting people out quicker. That way, we save the taxpayers money on detention space,” Homan said.

“A judge orders them out rather than being in detention waiting for travel documents and flight arrangements. ICE, along with CBP [Customs and Border Protection] through the Department of Homeland Security, is working really good on the efficiencies of the removal process. Get them out quick, open those beds up for more detainees to be held,” he said.

The former ICE chief explained that the Trump administration tracks “the average length of stay” of detainees in ICE detention, adding that “we want to get that average stay in detention down” by executing deportation “orders as soon as we get them.”

Despite the Trump administration’s efforts to deport detainees more rapidly, the average length of stay for ICE detainees has yet to see a significant decrease.

The latest average length of stay for a migrant in ICE detention is 49.9 days, according to federal data. In fiscal year 2025, which ran from October 2024 to September 2025, the average number of days ICE detainees spent in detention was 50.3.

During the fiscal year before, migrants stayed in ICE detention 46.9 days on average, according to agency data.