"We didn't think America would be like this"

[Ubax45_]

Abdirahman was deported from the United States in January for a failed asylum claim on an airplane chartered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

He says there were 90 other Somalis on the deportation flight.

"They said that your airplane is ready to leave and they locked my legs, arms and stomach

Abdirahman is part of a growing group of people being deported and detained for reasons related to their immigration status.

ICE says they plan to deport almost 5,000 people from the U.S. to Somalia, a plan which was launched under the Obama administration.

They also announced in May that arrests were up 37.6 per cent over the same period the previous year of people "either known or suspected of being in the country illegally." ICE says nearly 75 per cent of those arrested are convicted criminals.

During Obama's presidency, people were not targeted unless they had [a] criminal record."

Mohammed says now all kinds of other rules are enforced, leading to detainment or deportation.

He says now, for example, if you are applying for U.S. citizenship and are a day late telling them you've moved, "legally it says you've abandoned your application. You'll get kicked out."

Mohammed knows somebody in that situation who fled to Canada, crossing the border illegally.

I can't embed CBC here for some reason, but there's a short clip of Hodan Nalayeh asking the guy who was deported some questions, plus a longer podcast at the link below.

'We didn't think America would be like this': Why Somalis facing deportation are turning to Canada"