Two Ghanaian men who lost all their fingers to frostbite crossing into Canada from the United States to seek asylum in 2016 have been granted Canadian citizenship.

Razak Iyal and Seidu Mohammed entered Canada on Christmas Eve, 2016. after walking for three hours and awaiting help for hours more in frigid temperatures.

On becoming a citizen Seidu Mohammed said: “Canada is not just my home, it’s part of who I am as a person… It comes with a lot of responsibilities, too, and those responsibilities are the people around us … helping the communities, helping people. Those are the things that means a lot to me, being a Canadian citizen.”

More than 2,700 asylum seekers have walked into Canada since January, avoiding formal border crossings where they would be turned back under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement. Those who cross without authorization, however, are entitled to receive an asylum hearing.

Many say they left the United States because they feared President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

A Ghanaian woman died of possible hypothermia in Minnesota in May trying to enter Canada, highlighting the risks migrants take.

Iyal left Ghana after multiple beatings and death threats related to a family dispute about his father’s estate. Mohammed, 25, a former professional soccer player in Ghana, said he was threatened there because of his bisexuality.

“It’s been happening in Ghana – people killing people for stupid things, and the police take no action,” Iyal said.

The men traveled, separately, to the United States, which rejected their asylum claims last year, prompting them to flee to Canada.

But they both paid a hard price. A taxi they hired in Minneapolis dropped the men in North Dakota far from the border. The pair struggled through waist-deep snow in farmers’ fields and lost their gloves along the way.

Once the men reached Manitoba on Dec. 24, their fingers were too frozen to dial for help. Disoriented, they huddled together on a highway for hours before help arrived.

Doctors amputated all of Mohammed’s fingers and thumbs. Iyal lost his fingers, but kept his thumbs.