An American comedian claims he was interrogated by US border officials and told his asylum papers were fake while travelling back from a gig on a bus.
Mohanad Elshieky was on the way to Portland, Oregon, following a comedy show at Washington State University when he says the officers boarded the bus he was on and demanded to see his papers.
Mr Elshieky initially believed the men to be ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials, but later thought them to be CBP (Customs and Border Protection) officers.
He tweeted: “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’.
“I explained to them that I was granted asylum here in the United States, and that the work permit they currently hold and the license are impossible to get unless your presence here is legal. They told me that I was lying and these could pretty much be falsified.
“They got on the phone with immigration and gave them my name and document number and I can hear the person on the end of the line saying that yes they can see my name and yes, I entered the country legally.
“The ICE agent ended the call and then said ‘there are no records of your asylum’ and I again said that was impossible.”