Immigration officials forced a Libya-born Oregon comedian off of a bus, demanded proof of citizenship, and accused him of having fake papers even though he legally has asylum, according to reports Monday.

Mohanad Elshieky, of Portland, was on a Greyhound bus in Spokane, Wash., when US Customs and Border Protection officials swooped in Sunday morning, he said in a tweet reported by the Washington Post.

“I explained to them that I was granted asylum here in the United States, and that the work permit they currently hold and the license are impossible to get unless your presence here is legal,” said Elshieky, a native of Libya, said in a tweet.

The interrogation went on for 20 minutes, and “They told me that I was lying and these could pretty much be falsified.”

Elshieky — who’s been in the US on a visa since 2014 and last October got asylum — later told the Willamette Week newspaper, “This is about immigration in general from certain countries. They’re saying, ‘We don’t want them to be here and we’re going to make it hard for them to be here.'”

Customs and Border Protection officials have officers who have done similar “routine” checks for years, the paper reported. But the case sparked outrage over the agency’s practice of boarding intercity buses and demanding proof of citizenship from passengers.

The bus station where Elshieky was targeted has been the site of several identification checks in recent years, according to past reports.

Nationwide, complaints have increased about such checks in the past two years, as debate rages over President Trump’s plan to build a wall.