Michigan Lawyer Detained at Detroit Airport for Representing Pro-Palestine Protester

Lawyer Detained at Detroit Metro Airport

• ✈️ Amir Makled, a US citizen and civil rights attorney from Dearborn, Michigan, was detained at Detroit Metro Airport upon returning from a family vacation.
• 🛂 He was separated from his family and taken for secondary screening, where agents asked about his clients and demanded his cell phone.
• 🕵️ Makled believes the stop was targeted, not random, as the special agent knew his identity, profession, and involvement in high-profile cases.

Cell Phone Seizure and Client Confidentiality

• 📱 Agents presented Makled with a federal statute allowing warrantless searches of communication devices at the border.
• ⚖️ He initially refused to surrender his phone due to confidential client information and over a decade of work stored on it.
• 🤝 Faced with confiscation, Makled agreed to provide his contact list, but refused to divulge information about individuals within it, leading to further questioning.

Allegations of Targeting and Intimidation

• 🗣️ Makled asserts that the government's actions, including bringing up his cases and travel history, were an intimidation attempt to dissuade him.
• 🏛️ He connects this incident to the current administration's broader actions against immigration lawyers and political dissenters, particularly those speaking out about the war in Gaza.
• ✊ Makled is representing Samantha Lewis, a client charged in the University of Michigan Ann Arbor encampment case, which he describes as a criminalization of free speech.

Constitutional Rights at the Border

• 🚫 Makled explains that US citizens are subject to warrantless searches at the border without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, citing a broad statute.
• ⚠️ He argues that this practice, often justified by national security, is being used to target political dissenters and tramples on constitutional rights, specifically the Fourth Amendment.
• 📱 For travelers concerned about data privacy, Makled advises using a separate device without sensitive information or a "burner phone," keeping phones turned off, and not providing passwords or unlocking devices.