osaa is gay, and in ghana, homosexuality is a crime. why did you decide to leave ghana? >> i was afraid for my life and i knew if i stayed, maybe somebody, one day, somebody might kill me. and i don't want to die now. >> reporter: osaa left ghana in 2013 for ecuador, but it rejected his asylum claim. three years later, he made it to mexico and paid smugglers to take him to brownsville, texas, where he turned himself into the border patrol. >> i presented myself and told them, "oh, i'm here to seek asylum." they started chaining my hand, my waist, and my legs. then i started crying. >> reporter: osaa spent six months in an immigration detention center in pennsylvania, and his asylum claim was denied. released from custody but subject to a deportation order, osaa made his way to minneapolis to live with a friend. osaa planned his trip to canada right after president trump was elected, fearing even then he'd be forcibly sent back to ghana. >> if i'm sent back to ghana, for example, i can even go to jail, and i don't want to go to jail. >> reporter: osaa crossed the border,