Christian Commentator Who Supports Deportation Outed as an Illegal Alien, Finds Himself With One-Way Ticket Out

A widely followed Christian commentator who has called for illegals to be deported is about to be removed from America for overstaying his visa, sparking debate among Christian conservatives who say they support mass deportation but also lament his arrest.Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Samuel Sey over the weekend at the Columbus International Airport. Mr. Sey, who is originally from Ghana and entered the United States via Canada, has been an outspoken supporter of mass deportations. He has “accepted voluntary departure,” according to a spokesman with the Department of Homeland Security Mr. Sey “overstayed the length of his admission by over four years, in violation of our nation’s laws,” the spokesman said in an email statement to The New York Sun. He has “no pending applications” and has agreed to leave voluntarily, to avoid a formal removal order and enable him to preserve certain future re‑entry options.“We do not pick and choose which laws to enforce or where to enforce them,” the spokesman said. Mr. Sey entered America from Canada in 2022 and married his wife, Annie. They now have three children. He became a popular Christian commentator, providing conservative commentary on topics such as abortion and the LGBTQ community. In February 2025, he wrote that Christian ethics “do not denounce deportations” but rather “demand” them.if “America changes the standards and ends my residency, it would be inconvenient — not unjust,” Mr. Sey previously wrote.In a statement obtained by a conservative writer, Joel Berry, the Sey family said it is trying to figure out “what went wrong” and is working “in good faith” on obtaining permanent legal status. Another conservative commentator, Jared Monroe, wrote that Mr. Sey is a “good man” and bemoaned the arrest, calling it a “clerical error” that will “cost his family a lot of time and money to sort out.”Conservative podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey also wrote on X that Mr. Sey is a “good man,” and that people who are “celebrating” his deportation are “slanderous backbiters and gossips.”Others argued that regardless of Mr. Sey’s intent, if he broke the law, he should face repercussions for his actions. “I think generally speaking, the issue is relatively simple: When someone violates the law of the land, unintended or not, there are consequences,” the co-host of a Christian podcast, “Distilling Theology,” Justin VanRiper, told the Sun.Mr. VanRiper said that Christians can be “grateful for good laws that are in place for the purposes of protecting our nation and its citizens,” and at the same time can sympathize with the situation Mr. Sey and his family face. He added that Christians “can and should pray” for Mr. Sey and his family, and expressed hope that the incident would inspire other would-be immigrants and those who are already in America to “ensure they are following the laws of our land closely.”Others conservatives were less forgiving. “A lot of these ‘genuinely sweet people’ feel it’s okay to knowingly overstay a visa for years on end bc they want the benefits of living & working in America—as if they have a right to flout our immigration laws so they can get ahead. Sorry but we’re not doing this anymore,” a senior editor at the Federalist, John Daniel Davidson, wrote on X. A pastor, Jon Harris, wrote that “DHS is correct that even if someone is beloved by Americans (or in this case some American Christians), the law is the law. It must [be] applied with biblical equity.”Despite Mr. Sey’s pending removal, other writers have continued to express support for mass deportations. Mr. Berry wrote on X that he does not “fault ICE for doing its job” and said that while he believes there are “many similar cases” they will not change his opinion on deportations. In another strain of the debate, conservative author Jennifer Greenberg wrote on X that she believes that ICE should be “cracking down on criminals … absolutely, kick them out,” but that America should simplify its laws to “open the door for hard working, honest, family-folks like Samuel, while keeping out malevolent threats.” As of Monday afternoon, a fundraiser on GiveSendGo has raised more than $24,500 for the Seys.

Christian Commentator Who Supports Deportation Outed as an Illegal Alien, Finds Himself With One-Way Ticket Out

Christian Commentator Who Supports Deportation Outed as an Illegal Alien, Finds Himself With One-Way Ticket Out

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