Detention Of Libyan Comedian By Immigration Agents Generates Outrage

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The arrest by the immigration authorities of Mohanad Elshieky, a Libyan comedian who has lived legally in the United States for 5 years, has generated a new debate on the difficult situations that immigrants have to face, either with or without documents.

The case of the humorist began to attract the attention of the country after he reported through his Twitter account that he had been unjustly detained when he returned to his home, in the state of Oregon, after performing a show in the city of Pullman, Washington.

The bus on which he was traveling was detained by the agents, who forced him to get out of the vehicle after asking his country of origin. Once he was removed from the bus, Elshieky identified himself with his driver's license and work permit, to his surprise, neither document was considered sufficient evidence to validate his immigration status in the United States.

"(The agents) asked me and other (passengers) to get off. They took my documents and interrogated me for about 20 minutes. They claimed that my papers were false and that it was 'illegal'," he reported through his Twitter account is the comedian, who legally lives in the country under refugee status.

"To be honest, I had never felt as terrible as today. I never imagined that I would have to go through this," Mohanad confessed in another of his tweets in which he detailed everything he lived through. "This is just a reminder that even after being here for 5 years working, I am still considered 'other', I never felt so alone as in this situation," he added.

As revealed by a NBC News report on his online site, the comedian would have easily avoided the situation if he had presented documents that ratified his status in the country, as stated by a spokesman for the Customs and Border Protection Office of U. S.

For his part, Bill Holsten, lawyer and director of a human rights organization in Texas, said that the Mohanad case shows the lack of preparation of border agents to handle these types of situations, adding that for security reasons, the person decide not to carry this type of legal and extremely important documents at all times.

"Either option has its risk … we tell people to always carry them, because the risk of being arrested is even worse," added Holsten.