How to handle warrantless CBP searches
 Seth B. is a journalist who regularly travels abroad for work.



One day, he was returning to Texas from a trip to Mexico City. While passing through immigration he was asked to step out of the line for secondary screening.



During questioning, Seth was asked about his trip to Mexico City.



Border Patrol agents asked what news story he was working on during his trip. Seth tried to dodge the question, but the agent wasn't going to let it go.



Seth had been traveling on three hours of sleep and hadn’t eaten much in the past twelve hours.



He was not in the best mood when it came to questioning from border patrol agents, and he told the agent he had no legal obligation to share the contents of his reporting.



Eventually, he was questioned by a supervisor who was very polite. The supervisor explained that Seth was not under arrest, nor suspected of committing a crime.



However, the supervisor told him that if he didn't answer their questions, he wouldn’t be allowed to enter the U.S.



Finally, Seth said, “For the last six months, I’ve been doing an investigative journalism project to determine which restaurant has the best guacamole in all of Mexico.”



But his joking attitude didn’t get him anywhere. The agents made it clear that Seth was going to be there for an extended amount of time.



Next, he told the agents the real story he was working on. It was about machine gun helicopters that were being sold to cartels in Mexico.



But telling the truth didn’t help Seth at this point.



The agents searched his suitcase and everything it contained.



They found his journal, and read everything, including personal notes about family and relationships.



Lastly, the agents searched Seth’s phone and laptop.



All of these searches were done without a warrant, yet they were legal.



A typical police officer would have to obtain a search warrant to look through electronic devices such as a phone or laptop.



But border patrol agents can do so without a warrant.



A border patrol directive says, “CBP can search any person’s device, at any time, for any reason, or no reason at all.”



The truth is that a ton of Americans are arrested at our borders each year while we let thousands of illegals
with no identification at all just walk into the US with no questions asked.



Even though you might not be a criminal, border patrol agents have to ask questions and do their part to catch criminals.



But here are a few things to keep in mind if you are searched by border patrol agents.


Put your devices in airplane mode:



According to CBP guidelines, agents can only review data that is stored on the device itself. They cannot view the information in apps such as Facebook or Gmail.



Or maybe you store a lot of personal documents in Dropbox, with airplane mode on they wouldn't be able to access this.



You could also save your entire phone to the cloud, then do a reset on your device to erase everything.



But keep in mind that by doing this, you would walk through customs with an empty device with nothing on it.



And that might raise more red flags and create bigger issues with border patrol agents.



Leave devices at home:



The fewer devices you take through customs the less there is for them to search.



So, if you have a laptop, tablet, or smartphone, consider leaving one or two of them behind.



Also, if you are taking a cell phone you might want to get a burner phone. You can have all your calls forwarded to your burner so that you won’t miss anything.



If you want to be extra secure you can use a burner email, cell and computer on your trip.



They will have enough information to show your trip was legitimate but won’t contain personal details.



You have rights:



If you are an American citizen trying to enter the U.S., you can refuse to unlock your devices for agents.



The drawback is that this allows agents to keep your device to conduct their search.



In other words, you can refuse to let them look through it that day, but they can send it off to their tech experts that will figure out a way to search it.



Now, border patrol says that devices shouldn’t be held longer than five days.



However, there have been reports that travelers have had their devices taken and not returned for months.



But non-citizens are not guaranteed entrance if they refuse to unlock their devices.



Honestly, refusing to cooperate could be a headache in the long run, but this is a personal decision that you can make.



Border Patrol agents have a difficult job.



Their work is never-ending, and they do their best to keep criminals from entering our country.



But it's not the best idea to hand over all your data to the federal government. Uncle Sam isn't the best at protecting your privacy.
 


Jason Hanson

Editor, Black Bag Confidential