The arrest of Samuel Sey by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has drawn a large online reaction. Democratic media taunted Sey for having appeared hawkish on immigration, while liberal Evangelicals carved out an exception for mass deportations because they view Sey as a nice guy. Sey’s camp, be it his direct family or political allies, peddled the narrative that Sey’s detainment was the result of an easily fixable “clerical error.” This narrative was maintained for about 56 hours.
On Sunday evening, Megan Bahsam reported on her media inquiry from ICE.
“On October 21, ICE arrested Samuel Sey, an illegal alien from Ghana, at the Columbus International Airport. Sey entered the United States legally in 2022 but overstayed his length of admission by over four years, in violation of our nation’s laws. Sey has no pending applications and accepted voluntary departure. He will remain in ICE custody until removed from the United States.
“We do not pick and choose which laws to enforce or where to enforce them.
“We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.” – DHS SPOX
Prior to this, Basham told Evangelical Dark Web that Sey had not overstayed his visa. Evidently, this was untrue.
In 2022, Sey entered the United States from Canada on what was likely either a 90-day fiancé visa (K-1) or a B-2 visitor visa. According to Sey at the time, he was ineligible to work in the United States. Given the 4-year timeline, it would appear that it was this visa that lapsed, and per ICE, Sey had no pending application. It would also seem that Samuel Sey was never eligible to work in the United States and circumvented this as well.
In 2022, the core USCIS government filing fees to apply for a marriage-based green card (adjustment of status) while already in the US were approximately $1760.
Sey Goodbye
Samuel Sey has accepted voluntary deportation which was the best option on the table for him and his ability to return. However, Sey having stayed in the country for more than a year may mean that there is a reentry bar triggered by the unlawful time accrued. These are triggered by the departure itself and apply whether the person leaves via voluntary departure or under a removal order. Sey’s family will likely apply for a waiver from the reentry bar.
Samuel Sey had ample time to get his paperwork in order and presented himself publicly as an immigrant who was going through the right way. But just like Sey’s bomb threat, this too was a lazy lie. And in a display of arrogance, Sey decided to fly domestically to record with Jeremy Boreing, which is reportedly how he got caught. Sey’s legal status lie is a major blow to his defenders’ collective credibility, as it was most reasonable to defer to ICE regarding a man with a history of dishonesty and even race hoaxes.
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