Nouadhibou, Mauritania – When Omar*, a 29-year-old bricklayer from rural Gambia, crossed the border into Mauritania in March, he came in search of the better pay he’d heard he could find.

He settled in Nouadhibou, Mauritania’s second-largest city, where he shared a one-room shack with four friends, and found work as a casual labourer on construction sites, earning two to three times more than he had back home.

The oldest of nine children and the son of a rice farmer, Omar was able to save enough to support his family in The Gambia and pay his younger siblings’ school fees.

Then, in August, the National Guard’s armed pick-up trucks arrived in the city, and the police began rounding up migrants to detain and deport.

Nouadhibou’s construction sites became early targets, so, to avoid capt

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