A thread from comic Mohanad Elshieky has gone viral where he claimed ICE agents (later corrected to Border Patrol agents) took him off a Greyhound bus traveling from Spokane, WA to Portland, OR and accused him of being in the country illegally with fraudulent documents:
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) January 27, 2019
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.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
Elshieky says he heard the person on the phone tell the agents he was in the country legally:
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.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
The ICE agent ended the call and then said “there are no records of your Asylum” and I again said that was impossible. Then said I should had my Asylum approval on me which is ridiculous, why would I carry that where I have my IDs.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
I kept it together and told them that what they are doing now is illegal and that they must hand me my documents back or I will have to call my lawyer and take legal action.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
Another ICE agent then started yelling at me to take my hands out of my pockets and I did which is stupid because it was snowing and they were wearing gloves and my hands were freezing cold.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
Then they allegedly told him to “next time, have your papers on you”:
The ICE agent ended the call and then said “there are no records of your Asylum” and I again said that was impossible. Then said I should had my Asylum approval on me which is ridiculous, why would I carry that where I have my IDs.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
They handed my documents back and said “next time, have your papers on you” which means nothing because I did and they said they were fake.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
To be honest, I have never felt as terrible as I did today. I have never imagined that I would have to go through this.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
It was an another reminder that even though I have been here for 5 years working my ass off, I was still considered “Other” and I have never felt as alone as I did in that station full of people.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
He called the CBP agents “racist trash” for their behavior:
Here is a photo of the racist trash Fox News call “heroes”. pic.twitter.com/oXbSfoKvB7
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 27, 2019
After the thread went viral, he tweeted a copy of his ticket to prove he was on the bus and corrected from ICE to CBP:
Some people have brought to my attention that based on the photos I taken, those were CBP and not ICE. Here is a photo of my ticket in case anyone wants to make sure I was on the bus. There was snow on the floor and it was freezing cold in Spokane. Feel free to ask me anything. pic.twitter.com/S7GKAbwYs3
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) January 28, 2019
Now we have no idea if this account of what happened is accurate or not. What is CBP’s response? Because it’s not clear that the agents did anything that they aren’t allowed to do. This story has already been covered at length. From April 2018
Good, informative story by @elisefoley on the affirmative choice by @GreyhoundBus to allow the Border Patrol to demand its passengers’ papers: https://t.co/neu9wWYO46
— Anil Kalhan (@kalhan) April 24, 2018
This — surprise! — tactic “exploded under Obama”:
If you were also shocked by video of CBP officers demanding papers from random Greyhound bus riders (and arresting one woman), you should know that this tactic exploded under Obama https://t.co/5OD5azlXQe pic.twitter.com/PmnUSG9BJp
— Kia Makarechi (@Kia_Mak) January 22, 2018
The media even covered it then, but without the furor:
The Times covers the Amtrak and Greyhound CBP checks.
http://nyti.ms/dtnwD4— Chris Zubak-Skees (@zubakskees) August 30, 2010
FWIW, Greyhound posted on its website that it encourages travelers to carry their immigration documents with them when they travel on the carrier:
And with what just happened last weekend where blue checks jumped on the first reports of the Covington Catholic students and the Native American activist, shouldn’t people wait a day before sharing it? Elshieky has been a very vocal critic of ICE in the past:
My Uber driver just played “Born in the U.S.A” two times in a row and then asked me if I liked the song. Nice try ICE.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) April 1, 2018
As a person who lived under a dictatorship for over 20 years in Libya, I can confirm with no doubt that what Donald Trump does in general, and specifically what he allows ICE to do is exactly what a dictatorship is.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) June 14, 2018
I wish we had ICE back when your grandparents immigrated to the U.S illegally, we wouldn’t have had you here and that would’ve been dope.
— Mohanad Elshieky (@MohanadElshieky) June 6, 2018
Again, we have no idea if this thread is an accurate description of what happened or not, but we’re not seeing any blue checks even question it. Some examples:
One of these days, I hope people realize that the idea that ICE should be scrapped isn’t so crazy after all.
ICE jails children in for-profit detention centers funded by private equity grps. Kids are dying w/ 0 accountability. If that’s not totally broken, I don’t know what is. https://t.co/AlMgLiHVnu
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 28, 2019
@PattyMurray @SenatorCantwell @cathymcmorris I hope your offices are looking into this behavior on Washington state soil
— Ned Pyle (@NerdPyle) January 28, 2019
Greyhound is still failing to protect its customers from Border Patrol abuse. Tell @GreyhoundBus that it must enact a policy change to protect passengers like @MohanadElshieky from @CBP's illegal searches and racial profiling: https://t.co/7ZWbtSncmc https://t.co/0y1Bhdl5xf
— ACLU (@ACLU) January 28, 2019
Terrorizing innocent asylees to trigger the libs https://t.co/wOrdmfWXgN
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) January 28, 2019
This thread makes me literally sick to my stomach.
These people are the f*cking Gestapo. https://t.co/NXND0ufr70
— Jules Suzdaltsev (@jules_su) January 28, 2019
ICE is a terroist force. Shut them down. https://t.co/pF1rfXzQRz
— John Gruber (@gruber) January 28, 2019
#PapersPlease. This is terrifying. Including the fact that ICE ignored the advice they were given on the phone, and then lied to her face. https://t.co/6fD5ecQXfj
— Dave Earley (@earleyedition) January 28, 2019
We look forward to hearing more about this in the coming days.
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Related:
Are we still doing this? Despite video, the Washington Post refuses to stop trashing Covington students https://t.co/ndOJynaE0e pic.twitter.com/qGiFEw9x2m
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 27, 2019
Washington Post compares Covington High School to 500 years of Indian oppressionhttps://t.co/Ry5ciLUvJU
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 25, 2019
'MSM makes me sick': Anyone remember the Covington kids getting this kind of treatment from the NYT? https://t.co/6NbcAEAFHD
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 24, 2019