Mass. lawyer and his wife detained for hours at Canada border: ‘It was a shock’

The couple said they were led from their car to the CBP station in handcuffs, and had no idea how long they’d be in custody. Officers answered their questions with vague statements about how “the government” needed to search them, Atallah said. While being led down a hallway, Fakhry saw a pile of mattresses and feared they’d have to spend the night in custody.

Atallah’s sister, immigration lawyer Celine Atallah, criticized what she said was “not normal protocol” from CBP in an interview Wednesday.

“I believe CBP thinks they are above the law, but they don’t have a blank check at the border,” said Celine, who has a law office in Methuen, and lives in Salem, N.H.

CBP Assistant Commissioner Hilton Beckham said Bachir Atallah’s account of the couple’s detainment is not accurate.

“The traveler’s accusations are blatantly false and sensationalized,” Beckham said in a statement. “CBP officers acted in accordance with established protocols.”

Celine Atallah said that while international travelers can be subject to more thorough secondary searches, she maintains that what happened to her brother was not “routine security.”

A CBP spokesperson said Friday the couple was detained for less than four hours. Officials did not immediately comment on the couple’s other allegations about their detention.

Bachir Atallah, a lawyer who became an American citizen in October 2012, was driving back from Montreal with his wife when CBP officers at the Interstate 89 border crossing in Vermont told them to get out of their car, he said. Atallah gave the officers his keys, not knowing he and his wife were about to be handcuffed, he said.

The couple were confused, but otherwise compliant as officers placed them in separate cells. But they began to worry when officers would not answer questions about why they were being held, Fakhry said.

Atallah said he reluctantly signed a form giving officers permission to search his phone and email. That was concerning, he said, because information from his legal clients must remain private.

Beckham, in a statement Friday, said CBP officers “worked to ensure an attorney-client privilege was respected during the electronic media search.”

Sunday’s detainment at the border did not feel like an isolated incident to Atallah. He was stopped three days later at Boston’s Logan Airport and subjected to a secondary search before he boarded a flight to Lebanon to visit his parents.

TSA agents inspected “every credit card and every business card” in his wallet, as well as all his other belongings one by one, Atallah said.

TSA’s New England spokesman confirmed Atallah was “selected for Secondary Screening” at Logan, but did not provide further details. The spokesperson said the additional screening lasted 20 minutes.

Atallah’s wife and sister said they worried for his safety on Tuesday and Wednesday, while he flew first from Boston to Istanbul, on the way to Beirut. They’re even more concerned about his flight back home to the U.S. this summer, they said.

“I’m pretty sure CBP will be waiting for me,” Atallah said.

Fakhry, who got her green card four years ago and applied for US citizenship in November, said she felt like she was in a dream when she heard the click of handcuffs placed on her wrists last Sunday, April 13, shortly after 4:30 p.m.

“When they did that to me, I thought, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening,’” she said. “It was a shock. I was frustrated, I was shaking.”

Once in the cell, she was “freezing cold,” shaking, and felt light-headed. She said CBP officers had taken her jacket and wouldn’t give it back. When she asked for something to keep her warm, an officer gave her a yellow plastic tablecloth, she said.

The couple’s detainment comes a month after New Hampshire resident and green card holder Fabian Schmidt was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at Logan Airport after returning from a family trip to Europe. He remained in custody at a federal prison in Rhode Island as of Friday, according to an ICE database.

Like Schmidt, who was hospitalized for fever and flu after being detained by ICE in March, Atallah began to feel sick while in CBP custody on Sunday.

An emergency medical responder came to the CBP station, took Atallah’s blood pressure, and gave him an EKG test, which reported an abnormality, Atallah said.

Because Atallah’s blood pressure of 153/112 meant he was at risk for a stroke, CBP officers said he could go to a hospital, according to documents — but would be returned to their custody afterward.

“I said, ‘No, I’m not going, I don’t want to elongate the process,’” he said.

During the five and a half hours Atallah and his wife were in custody, CBP officers did not tell him what they were looking for, even as they searched his phone, he said.

“I got the impression that if I don’t give them access to what they wanted to look for, they’d hold me indefinitely,” he said.

Celine Atallah said the family plans to file a lawsuit to ensure what happened on Sunday at the border doesn’t happen again, especially given her brother’s busy travel schedule.

Celine said it is normal for CBP officers to conduct secondary, in-depth searches, but she says what happened to her brother and his wife went beyond that.

“There was no reason for them to treat him that way, have all these officers around him like he’s some sort of criminal,” said Celine. She described CBP’s actions as “harassment.”

Bachir Atallah said he supports President Trump’s goals to deport undocumented immigrants who have criminal records. Those policies make the US safer, Atallah said. Still, he believes the way he and Fakhry were treated violated their rights.

“You just took my freedom away for five and a half hours,” he said of his experience at the border.

“I am a Republican, I believe in family values,” Atallah said. “When it comes to immigration, I think maybe the intent is right, but they’re handling things completely wrong.”

Claire Thornton can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Claire on X @claire_thornto.