He can see a lawyer all he wants, nothing will be done, unless you want to assume that the U.S. handles charges like this much better than Canadian officials do.
I had a very similar experience happen to me about a year ago while returning home (to Canada) from a trip to New York. I am a U.S. citizen who is married to a Canadian woman and was in the middle of the process of applying for permanent residence status, which as a common courtesy the Canadian government allows you to live in Canada with your spouse if you are married when you apply. It also means you have paid more than $3,000 to live in Canada by this time not including future immigration fees.
I have no criminal record of any sort, not even a speeding ticket. In fact I am currently a Doctorate student, twice graduated with honors (undergrad and Masters) and yes I have been making my way through school by running porn sites, but they don't know that, I HOPE!
Anyway, woman who works for Immigration Canada with a real chip on her shoulder decides I am living in Canada illegally and then gets the "boys" in customs to trash my brand new car just sure they would find all sorts of illegal drugs.
They found a box of Duncan Donuts and threatened to arrest my wife because she did not claim the purchase to pay tax on it.
They, then shredded my drivers license and immigration documents and told me if I drove my car I would be driving without a license and they would arrest me and if I ever tried to enter Canada again I would be immediately arrested for illegal entry.
Stuck 2,000 miles from my closest relative and no photo identification (the U.S. customs officials almost did not let me back across until I found my birth certificate) at which time I was informed that "those shit-heads over there" do this stuff all the time to honest people.
So my wife had to drive me all the way back south and it took two months to get sorted out and to receive official documentation that I could re-enter. I had to live away from home, my wife, with my mom and had none of my material items, or even clothes until I bought some new ones for two months, and of course I had to pay more immigration fees to get everything in order. Even then I was not given 100% clearance, I was just told I could attempt to recross and see what happens.
I was screened for two hours and interrogated at the Windsor crossing trying to get back into Canada even though they had all my information right their in their computers, finally they decided to let me in once I pounded in the point about how much money I paid to live here.
The first day I got back we went to see an attorney and the MP and both were very sympathetic, the MP said he would make some calls and see what he could do.
I was told the next day by the MP's secretary that if we proceeded with any legal action, even though they admitted what happened was a violation of my rights and the law, that I would be kicked out of Canada forever and my immigration status would cease to exist. That info apparently came from Ottawa.
Sorry you didn't get to Phoenix.
P.S. My application for Permanent Residence did go through and I now have a little card that says I can live here as long as I like.
