Overview

• Customs and Border Protection and DHS clarified on June 24 that Mads Mikkelsen was refused entry solely because he admitted legally consuming cannabis in Germany and New Mexico under a federal law barring admission for any past drug use.
• Mikkelsen continues to assert that a doctored meme of Vice-President JD Vance found on his phone provoked agents to interrogate him on extremism and political content.
• During his five-hour detention at Newark Liberty International Airport, CBP officers conducted strip-searches, searched his luggage, collected fingerprints and blood samples, and mislabeled his Norwegian passport as Spanish.
• USCBP says fewer than 0.01% of about one million daily entrants have their devices searched, but civil rights groups argue the case reveals overly broad enforcement powers without clear due process.
• No policy changes have been announced, but the incident has intensified debate over digital privacy at borders, device-search authority and visa refusals for past drug use.