A Presque Isle doctor who sued the federal government after being barred from reentering the U.S. from Canada for more than four months is now back home.
Dr. Behnoosh Dashti, 52, dismissed her lawsuit against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security in U.S. District Court of Maine in Bangor on Monday after the government entered into an agreement to facilitate her re-admission into the U.S., according to her attorney.
Dashti, a Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital physician, is a Canadian citizen working in the U.S. on an employer-sponsored work H-1B visa. She filed a lawsuit last month against Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin and two other border protection officials, after Customs and Border Protection determined in April that she could not return to the U.S.
“Dr. Dashti was readmitted to the United States late on Friday,” James Monteleone, Dashti’s attorney, said Monday.
Dashti, the only family medicine provider in the women’s health practice at A.R. Gould Hospital, has lived in Presque Isle with her husband and two children and worked at the hospital since 2023, according to hospital officials.
“We are grateful that our colleague, Dr. Dashti, has returned to Maine and to her family, community, and patients,” said Dr. Jay Reynolds, president of Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital. “We all will be thrilled to see her and welcome her home.”
Dashti has provided care for Northern Light A.R. Gould patients since 2023 and is a valued resident of Aroostook County, Reynolds said.
“We extend a heartfelt thank you to those who worked diligently through diplomatic and legal channels to ensure her safe return to Maine,” he added.
On the advice of the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Dashti crossed into Canada at the Fort Fairfield port of entry in April to update her immigration status in the bureau’s computer system, showing that her visa had been extended until 2029 so she could renew her driver’s license.
Instead, when she tried to return to the U.S., minutes later, border protection held the doctor for 10 hours before releasing her into Canada and barring her reentry into the U.S., according to court documents.
While detained, border agents questioned Iranian-born Dashti about her mother’s employment with the Iranian government in 1980.
She explained to the agents that she and her family “hold hatred for the Iranian regime” and that she fled to Canada in 2008 to escape it and has no plans to return, the lawsuit said.
“We were honored to help Dr. Dashti as she navigated this personal ordeal, and we are thrilled that she is now back home in Maine, reunited with her family after more than four months of separation,” said Monteleone. “We remain in awe of her resilience and unwavering commitment in her desire to return home, to her patients, and to her community.”
