Miguel Afonso Caetano<p>"A lawyer's spring break trip to the Dominican Republic with his family ended on a troubling note at Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday: He was detained by federal agents, questioned about his clients, and asked to give up his cellphone, he says.</p><p>But Dearborn attorney Amir Makled, who is representing a pro-Palestinian demonstrator who was arrested at the University of Michigan last year, stood his ground. He didn't give up his phone.</p><p>"I'm an American citizen. I'm not worried about being deported," Makled said he recalled thinking to himself in the airport interrogation room. "So, I tell them, 'I know you can take my phone. I'm not going to give you my phone, however ... 90% of my work is on my phone. You're not getting unfettered access to (it).' "</p><p>What followed was a 90-minute, back-and-forth verbal tussle between Makled and two federal agents, who, he said, ultimately released him without taking his phone, but looked at his contacts list instead. For the 38-year-old civil rights and criminal defense attorney, it was a daunting experience that he says highlights a troubling phenomenon that's occurring across the United States: Lawyers are getting targeted for handling issues the administration of President Donald Trump disagrees with."</p><p><a href="https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2025/04/07/lawyer-for-u-m-protester-held-at-airport-refused-to-give-feds-his-phone/82978891007/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">eu.freep.com/story/news/local/</span><span class="invisible">michigan/wayne/2025/04/07/lawyer-for-u-m-protester-held-at-airport-refused-to-give-feds-his-phone/82978891007/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USA</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/RuleOfLaw" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RuleOfLaw</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/CivilRights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CivilRights</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/CivilLiberties" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>CivilLiberties</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Authoritarianism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Authoritarianism</span></a></p>