Sid Ahmed Tfeil left Mauritania, where he worked as a journalist, for New York City six years ago.
At the time, his son was two. He hasn't seen him since.
“I can’t tell you how much I miss my son, just as a father,” he said.
Tfeil said he had no intention of leaving the United States until it became clear Donald Trump was going to be the next president.
“Everything started to change,” he said. “We heard a lot of things following the news; things happening to cab drivers, to people in the streets, some girls with the hijab they took and I told myself, ‘I am not going to be a victim of the Trump administration.’”
He asked a friend to drive him to the border four days before President Donald Trump was inaugurated.
“They said, ‘Are you sure you’re going to leave the country?’ I said, ‘Yes. I want to leave to Canada.’ They told me, ‘You cannot get back anymore if you leave right now,’” he said.
He met the RCMP as he crossed at Roxham Rd. in Champlain, NY.
“He told me, ‘Stop! Stop! That's illegal! You can’t cross the border I will arrest you if you do,’” he said.
After being questioned by border agents he was allowed to walk free until his court date on March 16. He is one of many asylum seekers who have crossed into Quebec and across the country in recent weeks.
Tfeil doesn't have a U.S. passport; he has been waiting for his green card since he claimed refugee status in the U.S. shortly after landing there.
Even though he has to start his life over, Tfeil said it is worth it. For now, he is living in an apartment in the city.
“I’m not looking for anything else, just a chance to live in peace – in a peaceful place with peaceful people and people that understand me and don’t judge me about my religion or my colour or my thinking,” he said.
He hopes that one day he can share it with his son.
“I tell myself that it’s for him to find the right place for him, the safe place for him. I want him to be proud of me,” he said.
