An Immigrant From Cameroon Finds Asylum, Safety in Wisconsin

Frederica Freyberg:
Turning to the southern border, a temporary solution to deter a surge of illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border may become more permanent. As Republicans have made immigration a central issue in the presidential election, political pressure has mounted for Democrats to address the issue. An executive order issued in June from President Joe Biden severely limited the number of people who can seek asylum at the border. Immigration advocates fear the policy deters people with legitimate asylum cases who are fleeing their home country for fear of persecution. “Here & Now” student journalist Jane McCauley follows the journey of one such man who risked it all.

Ngwa Augustine:
At this point, I was thinking maybe I make a wrong decision of coming here.

Jane McCauley:
Ngwa Augustine had two choices. He could either face arrest seeking asylum at the U.S. southern border or face political violence in his home country of Cameroon.

Ngwa Augustine:
They look at us like second class citizens in your own countries simply because of what? Because you can’t speak French whatsoever.

Jane McCauley:
Cameroon is now in the midst of a violent civil war known as the Anglophone Crisis. Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Ngwa Augustine:
I said look, we cannot be in our own country and be treated as second class citizens. So I go down the street so start protesting. You know, we want our rights to be restored.

Jane McCauley:
The country’s internal conflict is a remnant of French and British colonization. It’s been decades of discriminatory policies from the French-speaking government against the country’s English-speaking regions. More and more, people like Ngwa have stood up against the government, risking arrest and torture. Ngwa’s wife and daughter assumed he had died in detention. What they didn’t know is that he escaped from Nigeria and fled to South America, starting in Ecuador and traveling north through the Darin Gap, one of the most dangerous places in the world. Over thousands of miles and through eight countries, he reached Mexico.

Ngwa Augustine:
I look like I’m a kind of different human being. I come from a different world, you know. I was under a lot of police discrimination. I said, Oh, this is simply what I’m running away from.

Jane McCauley:
Ngwa’s journey was harrowing, taking a toll both physically and emotionally.

Ngwa Augustine:
I have not talked to my family for all the time I was traveling at that time. You know, the stress and the emotion was going on.

Jane McCauley:
Finally, he arrived at the US-Mexico border.

Ngwa Augustine:
You don’t understand what I’ve been through to get to cross this very border. It was really — when I think of what I’ve been through to get to this point, it was — I can’t even, I can’t even find the right word to describe it. When I got into US immigration, I thought I am safe. I felt relieved.

Jane McCauley:
That relief, however, turned to regret as he questioned if leaving for the U.S. was the right decision.

Ngwa Augustine:
When they took me to the, to the detention, I said I didn’t commit any crime. Why are they, like, taking me to this place?

Jane McCauley:
He thought seeking asylum meant being protected in the custody of the United States. Instead, he was arrested like a criminal.

Ngwa Augustine:
I have never been to prison. I’ve never committed any crime in my life, apart from being — apart from being protester in my home country.

Jane McCauley:
And they told him nothing.

Ngwa Augustine:
I thought I was still in Chicago because I didn’t even know where I was.

Jane McCauley:
It was weeks later he found out he was in a federal detention facility in Dodge County, Wisconsin.

Erin Barbato:
This is a humanitarian issue.

Jane McCauley:
Erin Barbato is director of the UW Law School Immigrant Justice Clinic. Ngwa says everything changed when he met her.

Erin Barbato:
They’re risking their lives because they have no other choice. We have laws that allow people to seek protection here when they will be persecuted or have been persecuted in their home country.

Jane McCauley:
Seeking asylum is one issue, but proving your case is another. His witness accounts attest to the chaos in his country.

Erin Barbato:
He also wears scars on his body that we were able to demonstrate were linked to the persecution that he suffered from the government.

Toni Swandby:
Obviously, our backgrounds are really different.

Jane McCauley:
Toni and Mark Swandby met Ngwa through Barbato.

Toni Swandby:
But we had so much in common, like values and belief systems and all that.

Jane McCauley:
Ngwa went to live with them after leaving Dodge County Jail on parole. They became his American parents, giving him a place to call home.

Mark Swandby:
Having Ngwa in our life now has been a real blessing to us. You know, we’ve inherited another family, if you will, or found more family.

Ann:
I’d like to…

Stella Augustine:
I know you love to listen to stories.

Jane McCauley:
After four long years, Ngwa’s wife Stella, and then five-year-old daughter, Ann received their documents to come to the U.S.

Stella Augustine:
I was just like, is this for real? Am I here? I was in shock when I saw him. I was so happy.

Mark Swandby:
To make a life here in the U.S. and what they’ve been through and what they’re going through is just a hard thing.

Jane McCauley:
In June, Ngwa graduated from UW-La Crosse with a masters in health care administration. After years of hardship, Ngwa received his asylum in 2021. Now he’s applying for U.S. citizenship. Stella and Ann await their green cards. In the meantime, it means everything to Ngwa to start a new life in Wisconsin.

Ngwa Augustine:
It’s a beautiful thing for your family to be united. I think we’re really happy. And I am looking forward to more amazing things.

Jane McCauley:
For “Here & Now,” I’m Jane McCauley reporting from Madison.