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“We did more than any government in history, and I was attacked by the Liberals and the NDP for the changes that we made,” Kenney said after a UCP leadership debate Tuesday in Red Deer.

Kenney said he pushed the Obama administration to change the Safe Third Country Agreement — which requires refugee claimants to request refugee protection in the first “safe” country they arrive in — “so we could stop people like this from making asylum claims.”

“I think there is no legitimate reason for anybody coming from the United States to make a refugee claim in Canada,” he said. “That’s the basis of the Safe Third Country agreement. Unfortunately, it only applies to people who come in through ports of entry. I think it needs to be changed, but the U.S. government has refused to do so.”

On July 12, 2011, Sharif arrived at the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego, Calif., on foot with no documents and no legal status to enter the U.S., said CBP spokeswoman Jacqueline Wasiluk.

CBP officers took him into custody, and he was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He was detained at the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego on July 15, 2011.

Wasiluk had no information on how long Sharif had been in Mexico. He had no known criminal history at the time of his encounter with ICE.

On Sept. 22, 2011, an immigration judge ordered Sharif removed to Somalia, and Sharif waived his right to appeal the decision. About a month later, on Nov. 23, Sharif was released from custody on a supervision order due to a “lack of likelihood of his removal in the reasonably foreseeable future,” U.S. immigration officials said in a statement.