Opinion ID: 171191
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Mr. Ba's Testimony

Text: At his hearing before the IJ on May 4, 2006, Mr. Ba described his experiences as a victim of this violent upheaval. He testified that he was born in Mauritania and worked there with his father making bricks until 1989. In the fall of that year, policemen wearing military uniforms came and arrested him and his family. The policemen beat him and took everyone from his house, including his parents, his wife, and his sister. They shot and killed his father. Mr. Ba testified that he spent the next year in a detention camp. His captors were White Moors. He was separated from his wife and children in the camp and beaten every day. At the end of the year-long incarceration, the policemen took him to the Senegal River and forced him to cross by canoe into Senegal. There he was reunited with his family at the Thilogne refugee camp. He remained in the refugee camp for five years, selling bricks, then departed for Senegal's capital city, Dakar. In Dakar he worked as an itinerant clothing salesman until he left for the United States.