Tough US law will send more refugees to Emerson: lawyer

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This article was published 07/11/2015 (3405 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With the onset of cold weather, fewer asylum-seekers are crossing the border into Emerson from the U.S. to claim refugee status.

The numbers will rise again in the spring — as more Somalis whose American dreams were dashed try to find a safe place to call home, says a Minneapolis-based immigration lawyer.

“There are tougher requirements for someone to get granted asylum in the U.S. — especially (someone) from Somalia,” Abdi Abdulahi said.

“There are a lot of problems in Somalia,” such as “persecution by majority clans or extremist groups,” said the lawyer who represents Somali-speaking clients all over the U.S. “People are going to flee across tons of countries to get to the border at the United States.”

Desperate people pay thousands of dollars to smugglers to get them travel documents out of Somalia and to America.

“People think that once you get to the land of the free you are easily granted asylum.”

However, most end up in crowded detention facilities waiting for months for immigration hearings most will likely lose, he said.

One example is Yahya Samatar, who made international headlines when he swam up the Red River into Canada in August. The aid worker fled Somalia in 2014 when he was targeted by al-Shabaab terrorists for his development work with NGOs. He paid smugglers US$12,000 to get him to America. He flew from Ethiopia to Brazil, then bused and walked through South and Central America to Mexico, then the U.S., where he claimed asylum.

He was held in detention for close to half a year. When his case was heard in an American immigration court, Samatar had no lawyer and his claim was rejected. He was released to await removal from the U.S., but instead headed for Canada.

With a lawyer funded by legal aid on his side, Samatar presented his case Sept. 30 to the Immigration and Refugee Board. After questioning Samatar, the adjudicator ruled his claim was legitimate and granted him refugee protection.

In Canada, Immigration and Refugee Board statistics for 2013 and 2014 show more than half of refugee claimants from Somalia are accepted.

“Your asylum laws are less stringent and probably more generous,” said Abdulahi. “Since 9/11, the laws have been tweaked, and there are more restrictions (in the U.S.).”

The 2005 Real ID Act mandated asylum-seekers have identity documents to corroborate their claim.

‘People think that once you get to the land of the free you are easily granted asylum’

“It’s a catch-22,” said Abdulahi. “There’s no competent authority in Somalia to issue those documents. People who left the country because of the horrible situation there at the hands of the extremists don’t have any identity documents to prove who they are.”

Even if they have relatives in the U.S. who can vouch for them, it doesn’t carry much weight with an immigration judge, said Abdulahi. “Most judges deny asylum cases without getting to the merit of the case.”

Many asylum-seekers can’t afford to hire a lawyer and aren’t eligible for legal aid. “They don’t get an attorney who brings their claim to the fore and explains it to the judge.”

Judges use their “broad discretion” and make a decision based on their assessment of the claimant’s “demeanour and credibility,” said Abdulahi. “Some (asylum-seekers) are not able to articulate what happened to them.

“The majority of applicants are being denied” — released into “limbo” knowing at any time they could be returned to a detention facility or Somalia. Through word of mouth, they hear they may be more successful in Canada.

“There is a large Somali community (in Minneapolis) with people who are released and supervised and under the constant fear they could be snapped up at any time,” Abdulahi said. “These are people who’ve crossed through so many countries… it doesn’t seem that far-fetched to go to Canada.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca