An Iranian-born Canadian doctor has filed a lawsuit against three senior United States officials after she was denied re-entry into the country following a brief trip across the Canadian border.
Roya Afshar, 52, lodged the legal action earlier this week against Derrick Stamper, chief patrol agent of the US Border Patrol’s Houlton Sector, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Rodney Scott, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
According to court documents, Afshar legally entered the United States in December 2022 on a valid H-1B work visa and has since worked as a family medicine physician at a hospital in Presque Isle, Maine. She lives in the city with her husband, who is also a doctor at the same hospital, and their 12-year-old daughter.
The lawsuit stated that her H-1B visa was renewed in November 2025. However, when she attempted to renew her Maine driver’s licence in February 2026, officials at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles reportedly informed her that the state’s records had not yet been updated to reflect the extension of her immigration status.
Afshar claimed that after waiting nearly two months without any update from US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), she decided to visit the US Port of Entry in Fort Fairfield on April 8 to obtain an updated visa stamp in her passport before her driver’s licence expired.
According to the filing, she briefly crossed into Canada before immediately returning to the US border to seek the updated documentation. Holding a valid Canadian passport, she said she had crossed the border several times previously without encountering any problems.
However, after presenting her passport and renewed visa, CBP officers reportedly referred her for secondary inspection and questioned her about her immigration status.
Afshar said she fully cooperated with officials throughout the process but was detained for about 10 hours at the Fort Fairfield Port of Entry.
The lawsuit alleged that CBP eventually informed her she could not re-enter the United States under Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds (TRIG), citing her mother’s former employment with the Iranian government.
Afshar rejected the allegation, insisting neither she nor her family had any ties to the Iranian regime.
She told border officials that her family opposed the government in Iran, explaining that her father had been an activist against the regime and that her father-in-law was executed by Iranian authorities.
The physician also said she fled Iran for Canada in 2008 and has no plans to return.
In the lawsuit, Afshar is asking the court to declare the CBP’s decision preventing her re-entry as “unlawful, arbitrary and capricious,” while also seeking legal costs and attorneys’ fees.
US Border Patrol had not publicly commented on the lawsuit at the time of reporting.
