"...holding space for his deeply problematic journey, because no human is illegal, even if they are a toxic provocateur," said activist River Vance on Friday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Milo Yiannopoulos at a New Orleans airport. The British commentator overstayed his visa.
Now, mutual aid groups are mobilizing. They want the federal government to treat his border violation as a cry for boundaries. Vance and twenty-six local organizers drafted an open letter to the Department of Homeland Security. They demanded a restorative justice circle instead of standard deportation procedures.
"We must center his vulnerability as an unhoused non-citizen," the letter read. The organizers sent mindfulness workbooks and conflict-resolution guides to his holding facility.
"Deporting him to a monarchy-traumatized nation without doing the necessary repair work is institutional violence."
The left is struggling to process the event. Some academics argue his visa overstay was actually a subconscious protest against the settler-colonial state. They are currently raising funds to ensure he can dismantle his privilege on his own timeline.
