Libyan comedian suing US border patrol after being pulled off bus and 'racially profiled'
A Libyan comedian in Oregon plans to sue US Customs and Border Protection a year after he claimed he was "racially profiled" by immigration agents and removed from a Greyhound bus.
Mohanad Elshieky's legal counsel will file a claim in federal district court after he was denied an administrative complaint seeking $250,000 in damages last year.
During a layover at a Greyhound Bus Station in Spokane, Washington on 27 January 2019, Border Patrol agents profiled Mr Elshieky and demanded to see his immigration status documents, according to his 2019 complaint.
He gave his identification and status documents to officers, who called the documents "fake" and told him he was "lying" while he was detained for more than 20 minutes, the complaint says. Officers called Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which told Mr Elshieky that there was no record of his asylum request.
Mr Elshieky was granted asylum in the US in 2018 after immigrating to the country from Libya.
He recounted his experience in a viral Twitter thread, saying: "I have never felt as terrible as I did today. I have never imagined that I would have to go through this."
The encounter inspired local officials to draft legislation that prevents warrantless searches in the bus-boarding areas of the city-owned Intermodal Center, where Spokane's Greyhound station is located, and sparked outrage as Donald Trump's ramped-up anti-immigration efforts continue to disrupt immigrant communities across the US.
Last year, Border Patrol agents arrested more than 70 people at the bus station, despite the city sitting more than 100 miles from Canada's border in the Pacific Northwest. More than 600 people were arrested within the six years before that.
Greyhound has come under fire after reports across the US show Border Patrol agents targeting passengers on buses and trains and demanding to see "papers" and proof of citizenship following the administration's increased pressure on immigration enforcement.
This morning, ICE agents got on my Greyhound bus that was headed from Spokane to Portland. They walked around before they asked me and few others to step outside and took my documents and interrogated me for around 20 mins then claimed my papers were fake and that I’m “illegal”.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky)
Following Mr Trump's inauguration, Border Patrol had reversed a policy under Barack Obama's administration that required approval for those sweeps.
Emails obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union show a Border Patrol official telling agents in Maine that they were prepared to begin boarding buses, wishing agents "happy hunting" in 2017.
In the months that followed, as attention drifted to the president's stringent anti-immigration policies and detainment camps on the southern border, immigration enforcement "transportation checks" increased in the north, with officials claiming that transit stations are hubs for trafficking and smuggling operations.
Video footage and reports across the northern US, as well as California and Florida, show agents approaching passengers where they were born or to see their papers, and questioning and detaining green card holders and other documented immigrants
Greyhound, among the largest motor coach fleets in the US, issued a statement alerting passengers of their rights when approached by immigration enforcement officers.
Mr Elshieky's complaint alleges that Border Patrol officers unlawfully arrested and detained him and seeks damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which says officials like Border Patrol officers may be liable for interference with a person's freedom of movement that amounts to an unlawful arrest or false imprisonment, according to the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
In a 2019 statement, Mr Elshieky said he's "followed all the rules asked of me, applying for and obtaining asylum so that I can remain safe. I would hope that the same immigration officials that expect me to follow the law would do the same and respect my rights."
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