Portland Comedian Pulled Off Greyhound Bus By Border Patrol

PORTLAND, OR – "Now the whole country knows that I'm a broke a-- comedian who can only afford to ride smelly Greyhound buses," is Mohanad Elshieky's way of saying he can laugh about it now. The Libyan-born resident of Portland was returning home on Sunday from a gig that night before at Washington State University in Pullman.

He was at the Greyhound station in Spokane and had just gotten on the bus for the final leg back to Portland.

Elshieky wrote on his Facebook page that as he sat there, Border Patrol agents walked on the bus, approached him and asked, "where I was from and then asked me for documents and asked me to step outside of the bus.

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"They took my work permit and Oregon driver’s license and then claimed that those were fake and that illegal aliens get them all the time "

Elshieky was born in Benghazi, Libya, has lived in the United States for the past five years and was granted asylum. He also has a work permit. he had his permit with him but not the three-page document showing he has asylum, which he is not required to carry.

He wrote on Facebook that "they claimed that they called immigration and although I can hear the woman on the phone saying that there are records of my work permit on papers on the system they ended the call and said that there is no records of my Asylum and that the papers I had with me must be fake and then some other officer started yelling at me to take my hands outside of my pockets."

The comedian writes that he explained it's impossible to get a work permit without first being able to show that you are in the United States legally.

Elshieky says that it was only about 20-minutes in when he explained that he would be calling his lawyer if they didn't return his papers, that they did just that.

"I honestly never imagined that would happen to me and I’m not gonna lie, it made me feel awful to be treated this way, a reminder that I’m still considered 'other.'"

Elshieky wrote on Twitter that he was very disappointed in Greyhound for letting the agents on the bus without a warrant.

While Greyhound has not yet responded to a request for a statement, last October they wrote that they understand passenger concerns about "warrantless but still legal searches on our buses," adding that the agents don't ask permission, they just board the bus.

"We do not want to put our drivers’ safety or the safety of our passengers at risk by attempting to stop a federal agent from conducting checks," Greyhound says. "Greyhound does not coordinate with CBP, nor do we support these actions. That is why we are calling on Congress to change the law and will support positive efforts to do so.

"We also encourage all our customers to know their rights and share their opinion on this important issue with their members of Congress."

Customs says that they will look into the situation.

Photo of Spokane Greyhound Bus Station via Google Street View.