Mahad Mohamud is slowly readjusting to the heat, chaos and tension of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, after being deported from the US city of Minneapolis last month just as winter was closing in there.
Somalis know the 36-year-old as Garyaqaan - a word that can be translated as judge. This is the name he uses on TikTok, where he attracted almost half a million followers while he was abroad. Fans praised Mahad for his defence of his clan's interests as part of Somalia's lucrative TikTok roasting sub-culture.
But to those running the White House-linked Rapid Response 47 X account, Mahad was a criminal illegal scumbag. In an October post it accused him of being involved in the kidnapping of French officials from a hotel in the Somali capital.
Mahad has denied the allegation, saying that he was not in Mogadishu at the time. He was never convicted and the case was dropped. He claims his detention by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency was triggered after a rival TikToker leaked his address.
ICE told me they had two cases against me - one was entering the country illegally and the kidnapping of a French official. Mahad said the kidnapping case was handled by the FBI and after questioning, they cleared him. But that didn't save him from being deported.
His journey from Somalia to the US started more than a decade ago and first took him to South Africa, where he lived until 2021. He says he was assaulted by armed men in a xenophobic attack.
He then went to Brazil and made his way north, eventually crossing into the US without documentation through the Mexican border. When I jumped the fence from Mexico, I was arrested and detained for a month, Mahad recounts. I was later released with a work permit because my asylum case was active.
His TikTok career took off, giving him a steady income as fans sent him gifts during live streams. However, it also led to a threat on his life from the Somalia-based Islamist militant group al-Shabab due to his defence of the government. Part of his asylum case in the US was based on that threat.
Mahad describes in vivid detail the early May morning when immigration agents arrested him this year. Shortly after he had eaten breakfast, he went to his car thinking he was about to begin another day of Uber driving. Boom, they came for me, he says.
After being taken on a 30-minute drive to the ICE headquarters, he spent six months in detention. His asylum claim was denied as the authorities rejected the notion that he would be in danger in Somalia.
Eventually, he traveled back to Somalia, where he reunited with his three children after ten years apart. Yet, he fears for his life due to death threats received from al-Shabab, taking extra security precautions when he goes out. Despite being welcomed by many from his clan upon return, his journey is fraught with challenges as he navigates a life marked by past trauma and present dangers.
