In 2025, Sey wrote that if America changed its standards and ended his residency, it would be an inconvenience and no injustice. DHS says he overstayed his admission and accepted voluntary departure but has not released the dates behind that claim.
By EEW Magazine Online News Editors
Samuel Sey, a Ghanaian-born Christian commentator who grew up in Canada, is in Canada after his Oct. 21 arrest by ICE in Columbus, Ohio, his wife said Friday. (Courtesy of Slow to Write)
Conservative Christian blogger and podcaster Samuel Sey is in Canada nine days after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested him at an Ohio airport, his wife said Friday. His detention drew national attention because Sey has argued in essays and social media posts that Christian ethics require the deportation of immigrants in the country illegally.
“Sadly, Samuel was removed from the U.S. and is in Canada as of today, October 30,” Annie Sey wrote in a statement posted to her husband’s X account. “We sincerely believed we were following the legal process, which we continue to respect.”
Sey, 39, was born in Ghana and grew up in Canada. ICE arrested him Oct. 21 at John Glenn Columbus International Airport. Conservative commentator Joel Berry, who later organized a fundraiser for the family, said Sey had been traveling to record a podcast appearance. Sey was held at the Butler County Jail in Hamilton, Ohio, on an ICE hold.
Sey writes the Slow to Write blog, which is popular with Reformed evangelicals, and covers theology, abortion, race and politics. He also co-hosts “The Narrative,” a podcast produced by the Ohio-based Center for Christian Virtue, with the organization’s president, Aaron Baer.
The Department of Homeland Security says Sey entered the United States legally in 2022 and stayed past his authorized admission. In a statement first shared publicly Oct. 25 by conservative author Megan Basham, a DHS spokesperson called Sey “an illegal alien from Ghana” and said he had overstayed his admission “by over four years.” The spokesperson said Sey “has no pending applications and accepted voluntary departure,” adding, “We do not pick and choose which laws to enforce or where to enforce them.”
The department has not released Sey’s entry date or the date his authorized stay expired, International Business Times reported. It also has not said publicly which procedure governed his exit. Under Justice Department guidance, voluntary departure allows a person to leave the country without a deportation order.
Sey moved from Canada to Ohio in 2022 to marry Annie, and the couple have three children. In an Oct. 26 statement shared by Berry, she said her husband entered the country legally and had been working with an immigration attorney toward permanent legal status. “Our family is trying to understand what went wrong in the process,” she wrote. Early on, supporters blamed a clerical error, and the family’s fundraising page said they hoped to win his release on bail so he could fix “any clerical issues.”
Annie and Samuel Sey smile at their wedding reception. The couple married in 2022, the year Sey moved from Canada to Ohio, and have three children. (Courtesy of Slow to Write/Instagram)
In a Feb. 8, 2025, essay titled “It’s Not UnChristian To Deport Illegal Immigrants,” Sey argued, “Christian ethics do not denounce deportations. They demand it.” Writing about his own case, he said he was “in the middle of the immigration process” and added, “I can’t share details, but though I am a legal resident, the process isn’t complete.” If America “changes the standards and ends my residency,” he wrote, “it would be inconvenient—not unjust.” In January, he wrote on X, “If you love America you should support ICE.”
After his arrest, conservative commentators including Allie Beth Stuckey, Basham and Berry publicly backed Sey. Berry’s GiveSendGo campaign for family and legal expenses had raised more than $34,800 as of Friday, ChurchLeaders reported. “I love Samuel Sey and will do everything to help him,” Berry wrote on X. “I also stand behind ICE and the very difficult job they have in protecting our country.” Baer said neither he nor Sey had changed his views on immigration policy since the arrest, Signal Ohio reported.
Others welcomed the arrest. On an Oct. 27 episode of his podcast, Texas pastor Joel Webbon, an outspoken Christian nationalist, thanked God for Sey’s detention “for shutting his mouth from spewing out more lies and slander against your servants and your church,” then prayed for his deportation. The two had clashed before. Sey publicly challenged Webbon’s view that interracial marriage “generally” goes against God’s “normative design.”
Annie Sey’s Friday statement thanked supporters for their messages, prayers and financial help. It did not address what comes next for the family, including whether Sey will seek to return to the United States.