Human Smuggling Victim Mohammed Alajarmeh Says; To Them You Are Money

News Source:- Mohammed Alajarmeh was just 21 when he left his home in Jordan in search of a better life.

“I have my own story, my own problems,” he told Global News from his home in Vancouver, BC.  “We want to live a life, a normal, good life. Work (in the) morning, do your job, come home, that’s what we need.”

His journey to Canada, however, has not been easy.   Soon after arriving in the United States, Alajarmeh was put in touch with someone he thought was an immigration lawyer

“He told me, ‘You can get your citizenship in Canada and get a better life and job and in two months, you get your PR (permanent resident status),” he said. “He was calling me every day (saying) Canada is better. Come here! It’s easy.”

Convinced by a cousin who had used the man’s services, Alajarmeh agreed to pay the smuggler $4,000 and fly to a house just outside the British Columbia border in Washington state. Early one morning, he said, he walked over the border to where a car was waiting to pick him up.

“At 6 a.m., he picked me up and drove me to the airport,” Alajarmeh recalled. “I paid him the money and he brought me to a house in Calgary.”

The smuggler’s promise of permanent resident status or a work visa never materialized.  Alajarmeh became indebted to the smuggler.  He says he was exploited into working for him as a driver, eventually learning he had been unknowingly helping to smuggle other migrants into the country.

“To them, you are money, that’s it, ” Alajarmah said.  “He rented an apartment for me and said I owed him rent.  When I told him I couldn’t get a job he said, ‘Why don’t you drive for me? I’ll pay you three hundred dollars, four hundred dollars to drive from Calgary to Vancouver and Vancouver to Calgary.’” Read More.