A comedian who was pulled off a Greyhound bus by border patrol agents has received a $35,000 payout from the US government.
Mohanad Elshieky, who emigrated to the US as a refugee from Libya in 2014, was detained and questioned by officers who accused him of having “fake” paperwork in 2019.
The comedian was traveling from a performance at Washington State University to a show in Portland, Oregon, when the incident took place.
Mr Elshieky, who was granted asylum in 2018, has previously explained that agents “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.”
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He has said that the experience shook his faith in the US government.
“I’ll never forget the harassment and humiliation by the officers when it was clear I belonged in the United States and on that bus,” Mr Elshieky said in a statement.
“I hope my experience can at least be a wake-up call for others, and a lesson for CBP and its agents to treat everyone with dignity and respect, and to honor their rights.”
