Months after 21-year-old Norwegian tourist Mads Mikkelsen was denied entry into the United States after border officials discovered a JD Vance meme on his phone, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) claimed they have “no records” of Mikkelsen’s allegedly 18-hour-long hold at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
“This raises concern about how his case was handled and about the grounds for denying him entry,” Albion Vestby, the Oslo-based attorney representing Mikkelsen, told Hyperallergic.
Responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by Mikkelsen and his attorney in June, an ICE officer claimed the agency found no records of its interactions with Mikkelsen. The FOIA request, reviewed by Hyperallergic, asked the agency to produce documentation including notes, biometric and DNA records, call logs, video and audio recordings, and immigration documents, as the 21-year-old considers taking legal action against the US government. CBP also denied having any records related to Mikkelsen in a FOIA response reviewed by Hyperallergic.
“This case also matters beyond my client, because every international traveler should have clarity about the grounds on which they may be detained or refused entry,” Vestby said.
The public records request filed by Mikkelsen and his lawyer also alleged that Mikkelsen was detained for 18 hours, during which his repeated requests to contact the Norwegian consulate were denied in violation of diplomatic conventions. Mikkelsen also claimed he was threatened with imprisonment and fines if he did not turn over passwords to his device or sign certain documents.
Representatives for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE, and CBP have not yet responded to Hyperallergic‘s requests for comment.
In an August 8 email to Vestby reviewed by Hyperallergic, ICE said that the agency considered his request under the FOIA and Privacy Act, the latter of which entitles individuals to learn how the government stores and uses information about them. While the FOIA and Privacy Act are both avenues to accessing federal records, agencies can deny requests on certain grounds, including concerns over national security and trade secrets. The government is required to provide a reference to “any FOIA exemption applied.”
Vestby told Hyperallergic that he considers ICE and CBP’s response to be insufficient under what is required by the FOIA. In an appeal, Vestby claimed the agencies’ responses were “ambiguous and incomplete.”
Mikkelsen had planned a months-long trip to the US to visit friends and tour national parks with his mother, he told Hyperallergic in an interview after he returned to Norway in June. However, while passing through passport control at Newark, he was summoned into a room where he said ICE agents asked him if he planned to commit terrorism, belonged to any extremist groups, or was smuggling narcotics.
CBP officers then inspected Mikkelsen’s phone, according to his account of the events, where they found the viral meme of a bald JD Vance and photos of a pipe he said he made in trade school. Publicly, the DHS has stated that Mikkelsen was denied entry because he admitted to using marijuana, which he acknowledges having done twice in places where the substance is legal.
However, DHS’s public narrative does not match what Mikkelsen claims officers told him in the interrogation room, nor does it match documents from CBP reviewed by Hyperallergic.
Officers handed Mikkelsen a document known as an I-877, which is an official sworn report provided by DHS in instances where an individual is denied entry into the US. Mikkelsen’s I-877 states that he was denied entry because he appeared to be seeking illegal employment, which he denies.
Mikkelsen told Hyperallergic that during his interview, however, he remembers that he was told the JD Vance meme was “illegal” and “dangerous.”
Mikkelsen requested a copy of his I-877 in his FOIA request, which the agency claimed it had no record of.
“I’m disappointed in CBP and ICE for not being able to give me the documents that I have a copy of,” Mikkelsen told Hyperallergic. “If anything, it just looks like they are trying to hide something.”
Vestby has appealed ICE’s response to his FOIA inquiry and will consider all legal remedies based on their reply.
