Customs agents seized his cellphone after he refused to give password
By Guy Page
On Saturday, January 12 at 3:30 PM, Palestinian-born Green Card holder Mohsen Mahdawi arrived at the Derby Line port of entry driving a white Audi.
He left about seven hours later after an oft-tense encounter with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials with a citation to appear in Vermont criminal court – apparently for possession of illegal drugs found during a search of his car. He left without his Apple cellphone, which border authorities seized from him when he refused to give them the password.
He also left with about $4000 in cash, which he had been carrying in his wallet and two envelopes.
The encounter six years ago became of public interest last week, when the federal government introduced two police reports in its efforts to continue to detain Mahdawi for possible deportation: the 2019 USCPB inspection report and a Windsor (VT) PD report that he sought to buy a sniper rifle and machine gun in 2015. Judge Geoffrey Crawford reviewed both documents and in his order to release Mahdawi downplayed their legal significance.
“The government also points to an incident in January 2019 when Mr. Mahdawi was stopped at the border and found to be carrying drugs. Mr. Mahdawi describes these as prescription medication. He was sent to Diversion through state court and any record of the offense has been expunged.”
Despite Crawford’s dismissal of the drugs as ‘prescription medication,’ the CBP report describes small amounts of LSD, mushrooms with opiates, and meth found in Mahdawi’s car.
Mahdawi, a Windsor County resident and Columbia University activist, was detained and jailed April 14 in Colchester by Department of Homeland Security authorities on the order of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who declared that deporting him is in the strategic interests of the United State due to his Columbia activism. He was freed on bail last week, pending due process review of the government’s case to deport him.
The full CBP report appears below. Some highlights:
Mahdawi said he was coming back from two days in Montreal, visiting a woman he met on a cruise to the Caribbean two weeks before.
Divorced at the time, Mahdawi told CBP he received his green card after marrying an American while he was living in Palestine, where he was born. [Divorce or separation from an American spouse can be, but is typically not, basis for revoking or not renewing green card status.]
As the interview progressed, Mahdawi began to press the authorities to hurry, saying he had an evening appointment. They told him they would take as long as necessary, and asked to see his phone. Mahdawi refused. He threatened to call his lawyer. Due to his refusal, they handcuffed him, put him in a cell, took away his phone, and asked for the passcode. He refused.
Meanwhile other authorities were inspecting the Audi. They found two legitimate prescription bottles from the methylphenidate family, but also personal use amounts of LSD, illegal meth, and mushrooms testing for opiates. After a trip to and from the local hospital (he complained he was feverish and cold, although his temp was normal), Mahdawi was cited by a state trooper. The citation is redacted but in context with the rest of the report appears to be for the drug possession, and Judge Crawford’s release order of Mahdawi notes that the drug charges were expunged from his record.
Mahdawi was released, whereupon he apologized to the CPB authorities and offered to shake their hands.
Copy of January 12, 2019 CBP report and Mohsen Mahdawi’s entry into U.S., below:
