Milo Yiannopoulos says his recent experience with U.S. immigration authorities gave him a firsthand understanding of just how frightening and humiliating the detention process can be.
Speaking with Piers Morgan, Milo described being arrested, shackled at his hands and feet, and transferred between detention facilities. He said the restraints were painful and that the entire experience was far more brutal than it appears on television.
He also said he was repeatedly moved from one facility to another, sometimes every few hours, while authorities allegedly attempted to stay ahead of his lawyers. Throughout the ordeal, he said, officials gave him very little information about what was happening.
The moment left him frightened, disoriented and humiliated. He said he had never experienced fear like it before.
Milo also admitted that the ordeal affected him emotionally in ways he hadn't expected. After recently stumbling down some stairs, he said the incident triggered memories of being pushed down steps while in custody, causing him to break down and cry for about an hour.
That reaction apparently prompted some uncomfortable self-reflection. Milo acknowledged that he had previously been dismissive of people who talked about trauma and had downplayed how long traumatic experiences could affect someone.
“Now I get it,” was essentially his message. He emphasized that he would not wish deportation on anyone, even though he has, in fact, wished it on others.
But Milo's biggest grievance seems directed at the government officials who, he claims, misrepresented what happened to him.
He insisted that he was not some reckless right-wing provocateur casually ignoring immigration laws. He said he now works managing lawyers, considers himself organized and responsible, and is married to an American citizen.
According to Milo, he had no reason to violate his visa terms deliberately. He said numerous companies could have sponsored him and that, given his marriage to an American, he had no incentive to risk overstaying.
His wider argument is that the government's portrayal of him does not match the circumstances he says actually led to his detention and deportation.
And there's the particularly awkward twist: Milo, who built much of his public persona around provocative commentary and a decidedly unsentimental attitude, is now describing the immigration system as brutal, frightening and psychologically traumatic—and admitting that he didn't really understand what that kind of experience felt like until it happened to him.
Milo was an advocate of aggressive immigration enforcement before ICE detained and deported him. The Daily Beast reports that he had advocated mass deportations and even legal immunity for ICE agents.
The leopards were hongry, Milo.
