Samuel Sey was detained at the Columbus airport and is being held at the Butler County Jail on an ICE hold. Records show he has been there since Oct. 21, after officials acted last week on behalf of ICE.
DHS said Sey entered the United States legally in 2022 but overstayed his length of admission by more than four years. The agency also said he has no pending applications and accepted voluntary departure, and that he will remain in ICE custody until removed from the United States.
Samuel Sey and Ohio
Sey is a 39-year-old Ohio-based conservative podcaster who co-hosts The Narrative, which is published by the Center for Christian Virtue. On his website, he said he is a Ghanaian-Canadian who lives in Ohio and moved from Toronto in part to live near his wife's father.
In February 2025, Sey wrote that he was “in the middle of his immigration process” and that it should wrap up soon. He also wrote, “It’s not unChristian to deport illegal immigrants” and, “Christian ethics do not denounce deportations. They demand it. Since illegal immigration is a crime, Christian ethics demand justice. That justice includes deportation.”
Butler County Jail
Aaron Baer said neither he nor Sey has changed views on immigration policy since the arrest. Baer said, “Just spoke to Sam from the detention facility an hour ago, and I can say for both of us, our view of [immigration enfrocement] is unchanged by this situation,” after speaking with him from the facility.
The Butler County Sheriff’s Office has contracts with ICE to help carry out mass deportation operations, and more than 3,600 people held at the Butler County Jail during Donald Trump’s second term have been deported. Sey’s detention places his own case inside the system he publicly defended, while the airport arrest leaves the paperwork question that triggered it still unresolved in the record.
For Sey, the immediate next step is removal from the United States unless the case changes before that happens.
