Editor: It has been another frustrating day with computer problems, so won’t get everything posted in between internet outages that I hoped for today, and if you don’t hear from me, you know why!
I did want to get this very fishy story up as quickly as I can, so am hustling before I lose internet again. Before you read on, know that Ghana is a relatively prosperous majority Christian country in Africa. According to wikipedia it is about 17% Muslim. We take only a tiny number as regular refugees from Ghana (and that would be because it is a functioning country!). That said, if a Muslim claims he is gay (as this guy does), he is a shoe-in for asylum in the US, yet he says he was turned down.
So if he was in detention and denied asylum in America how was he loose to cross the US/Canadian border?
And, where did he get the money for his extensive travel odyssey?
Here is the story at the Grand Forks Herald (Hat tip: Joanne). BTW, the headline says he crossed from Minnesota, but the story text says North Dakota.
WINNIPEG—We’ve seen the desperation of refugees risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea to get to Europe, but we haven’t seen any risking their lives crossing the frozen prairie to get to Canada—until now.
On Dec. 24, Seidu Mohammad nearly froze to death walking from North Dakota toward the Canadian border at Emerson, Man.
The man from Ghana spent more than seven hours walking outside and expects to lose most of his fingers.
[….]
Mohammad said a fellow refugee claimant from Ghana with him was taken to hospital in Morris, Man., with less severe injuries.
They walked through deep snow to avoid alerting U.S. officials and reach the Canada Border Services Agency at Emerson, he said. “It was up to my hips.”
What kept them going was knowing that if they gave up before getting to Canada, they would be taken to a detention facility in the United States, then be deported to Ghana.
Refugee admissions ticket par excellence!
“I can’t go back,” Mohammad said. He had to flee Ghana because of his sexual orientation, he said.
They knew that if they managed to get to the Canadian border, they could file a refugee claim and make their case before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. Canada’s immigration system is seen by human rights advocates and lawyers as more fair and thorough than that in the U.S. [So are human rights activists advising people like Mohammad, and coaching them on stories about being gay?—ed]
The US supposedly denied his claims. What? They didn’t believe he was gay?
Their refugee claims were dismissed, as most are.
I’ve written previously about these world traveling phony refugees who seem to have the funds to travel for months across the world, but don’t stop in the first safe country and apply for asylum which is how asylum is supposed to work if one is a legitimate refugee!
For Mohammad—who left his home in Ghana in 2015 and spent six months on planes, boats and buses to get to the U.S. before hoofing it into Canada—the perilous journey was worth life and limb.
More here.
When I was in North Dakota this past summer, I learned that locals do report Somalis coming in from Canada over the ND/Canadian border.