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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Johana Bhuiyan

Pro-Palestinian protester’s lawyer stopped and searched at US border: ‘They were going to take my device’

a bearded man in a suit smiles for a photograph
Amir Makled, a Lebanese American attorney representing a pro-Palestinian student protester at the University of Michigan who was recently arrested. Photograph: Hall Makled PC

Amir Makled thought he was being racially profiled. A Lebanese American who was born and raised in Detroit, the attorney was returning home from a family vacation in the Dominican Republic when he said an immigration official at the Detroit Metro airport asked for a “TTRT” agent after scanning his passport on Sunday. Makled said the expression on the agent’s face changed. He felt something “odd” was happening.

“So I Googled what TTRT meant. I didn’t know,” Makled said. “And what I found out was it meant Tactical Terrorism Response Team. So immediately I knew they’re gonna take me in for questioning. And that’s when I felt like I was being racially profiled or targeted because I am Arab.”

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