Posted on 05/23/2019 8:59:32 AM PDT by FewsOrange
If you're taking a trip in to or out of the US, border agents currently have free rein to search through your digital devices. Unlike police, agents don't need a warrant to look through your phones, laptops and other electronics. Two US senators are hoping to change that with a bipartisan bill.
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, on Wednesday introduced the Protecting Data at the Border Act, which would require agents to obtain a warrant before they can search Americans' devices at the border.
The number of electronic searches at the border has spiked in the last four years. In 2018, the Department of Homeland Security conducted more than 33,000 searches on devices, compared with 4,764 searches in 2015. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment. "The border is quickly becoming a rights-free zone for Americans who travel. The government shouldn't be able to review your whole digital life simply because you went on vacation, or had to travel for work," Wyden said in a statement.
The bill is also being introduced in the House of Representatives by a group of Democrats. Wyden and Paul introduced the same bill in 2017. Since then, warrantless device searches at the border increased by 10 percent. Law enforcement agencies have been taking advantage of the warrantless searches at the border, using the information discovered in unrelated court cases, the American Civil Liberties Union discovered through its related lawsuit against the DHS. Until a court makes a decision, the agency is still allowed to conduct these searches without a warrant.
"Respecting civil liberties and our Constitution actually strengthens our national security, and Americans should not be forced to surrender their rights or privacy at the border," Paul said. "Our bill will put an end to these intrusive government searches and uphold the fundamental protections of the Fourth Amendment."
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
I agree: these searches look illegal to me.
“unreasonable”.....you’re crossing an international border...it’s a security issue....and not unreasonable.
Disagree...this isn’t someone crossing the street in NYC....it’s someone entering YOUR country. Play it safe...
These searches are being conducted on AMERICANS.
Play it safe, my ass! Haven’t you ever read the Bill of Rights?
FURP.
These people are criminals, the search is automatically justified and absolutely necessary.
I agree...
I agree with you.
Yes, they do need a warrant. The Constitution hasn’t changed.
I have read (I am not a lawyer) that because customs exams predate the Constitution, they aren’t covered by the 4th Amendment. They certainly don’t need a warrant to go through the rest of your stuff.
Now we have the "border" version of the same swill. The illegals and border jumpers won't get searched, only U.S. citizens will.
And we know the FBI and the CIA's textbook definition of "terrorist" is now American citizen with extreme right wing views. Thank Obama and now Rand Paul for that.
In rifling thru all the data on a phone, have border agents ever found anything that was a national security issue?
Well, I think extreme right wing views can certainly verge on anarchy and terrorism. Political extremists of every stripe can be pretty dangerous. On the other hand, classic liberalism, as defined in our constitution and bill of rights is not extreme, it our heritage, and I don’t think we should allow ourselves to be branded as “extreme right wing.”
It is currently legal to do a body cavity search of US Citizens upon reentry.
Why and exemption for their digital devices?
Why not disallow ANY search without a warrant?
What part of a customs search is unconstitutional?
Possibly, because as the article states, other law enforcement agencies are rifling through the seized data for use in unrelated cases (simple criminal cases as opposed to terrorism). Basically turning these searches into fishing expeditions rather than legitimate nat’l security concerns.
Hard to imagine a body cavity search providing evidence in a unrelated case to the owner of the cavity.
Personally I think a warrant should be required for citizens only. Everyone else, “What’s your password, please.”
We came back from Mexico...8 of us. One of our group was strip searched by USA border people. Yes she was born, raised and lived in NYS.
Never heard of a mule??
We’re not talking about a customs search, we’re talking about searching phones and laptops without warrants. Huge difference.
Yes, but being a mule is a crime in and of itself, so any case arising from a cavity search will by definition involve the cavity owner.
This is not the same as searching through the electronics of a company’s employees, trying to build a case against the company that may or may not involve the employee.
Would you want your electronics searched because your wife’s 2nd cousin is a wanted felon and they hope to find something, anything in your messages or emails from various family members that might hold a clue as to his whereabouts? Basically, that’s what is happening.
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