One of the four men facing federal charges for illegally entering the U.S. from Canada in western Maine earlier this month pleaded guilty Thursday.
Ali Mohammed Ali Abdullah, a citizen of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to entering the U.S. without inspection. He is one of the four men who were arrested by federal immigration officers after a pair of maple sugar workers reported seeing four Middle Eastern men walking along the Golden Road near the remote St. Zacharie crossing early this month.
The other three men who pleaded not guilty on April 7, Hameed Mohammed Nagi, Ibrahim Ayyub Khan, and Mohammed Sultan Saleh, have not changed their plea. But Khan is challenging how much information from his interviews with federal law enforcement can be admitted into court.
In an interrogation with FBI agents, Khan asked if he could get a lawyer but was told there were none nearby and waiting for one to get to Jackman, where the interrogation took place, would slow down the process of Khan returning to England, according to court documents.
“You can get a lawyer, but what’s going to happen is you’re gonna wait a lot longer than you’ve already waited. We’re hours from any city that has a lawyer,” an FBI agent said, according to a court filing from his lawyer, Chris Nielsen.
Any information from the more than two-hour interrogation shouldn’t be used in court because Khan’s Miranda rights were violated when he was not given access to a lawyer, Nielsen argued. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew McCormack, a spokesperson for the office, said the state will likely respond in court before the May 12 deadline.
While Khan’s case is ongoing, Abdullah’s lawyer, Phil Noland, said he sent information to government officials about Abdullah’s plans and people he knew in America to prove he was crossing the border to try to find a job.
The 17-year-old, who previously worked in delis in New York City and Chicago, was trying to get another job in the U.S. to help support his family in Liverpool, Noland said.
“There was no threat,” Noland said.
Entering the country through Canada would have allowed Noland to stay longer, earn better wages and keep more of his tips if he had a visa, but Abdullah didn’t cross the border with a visa, Noland said.
“He was trying to game the system in what was not a well-thought-out plan,” Noland said.
McCormack did not comment on Ali Abdulah’s case.
