Biography
Sami Hamdi is a British political commentator and journalist of Tunisian and Algerian descent, managing director and editor-in-chief of the consultancy The International Interest, and a regular analyst of Middle East politics on British television. Midway through a United States speaking tour on Palestinian rights, and a day after speaking at a CAIR gala in Sacramento, he was detained by ICE at San Francisco International Airport on October 26, 2025, after the State Department revoked his visa; the government said he had overstayed, while he, his lawyers and his supporters said the visa was valid and that he was targeted for his criticism of Israel and the war in Gaza. He was held at the Golden State Annex ICE facility in McFarland, California, with a brief transfer to Fresno around his hearing, and described overcrowded cells where fifteen men slept on yoga mats. At a hearing on November 10, 2025 the government agreed to his voluntary departure, stipulating that he was not a danger to the community or to national security, and on November 13 — after eighteen days — he was released and flew home to London, where he was reunited with his wife and child. He called the detention an attack on freedoms and has continued his commentary since.
