Posted on 06/06/2019 5:38:24 AM PDT by vannrox
There was no conceivable reason for border agents to be suspicious when “Charles” flew from Brazil to Chigaco, with a final destination of Denver.
But that didn’t stop them from searching his luggage, searching him, and finally searching his phone.
Customs and Border Protection has been ramping up their searches of the electronics of travelers to the United States. Over 30,000 people had their electronics searched at a U.S. airport last year while traveling to or from the United States.
In this interview, Charles tells me about his ordeal with the United States Customs and Border Protection. He was traveling to the United States to see a friend but was stopped at the airport and searched without probable cause, or even reasonable suspicion.
Finally, CBP Agents forced him to unlock his phone so they could troll through thousands of pictures, fishing for a crime. They didn’t find a crime, but they did find a picture of Charles with marijuana from over a year prior. Based on that picture, his visa was revoked.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybell.com ...
For Android there’s an app called AppLock that let’s you lock down every function of the phone to require a combination.
You can give an agent the wrong combo and it makes it look like the protected app has crashed instead of warning that the combo is wrong.
I’ve had my luggage searched on domestic flights several times. The only reason I even knew about it was the TSA note left inside. I have no problem with that. If you’re a foreigner, and don’t want to be searched, don’t come into the US.
That’s exactly what the left is crowing about the illegal alien invasion.
Curious...
U.S. citizens, I agree. But this guy is not a citizen.
The search authority extends equally to non-citizens and to returning U.S. citizens.
Anyone who fails to realize that this legalizes all sorts of abuse and misuse is an unmitigated moron, and I'm ashamed to call them my fellow Americans. This is far too broad a power for any government agent of any level.
"Since someone, somewhere might want to do something bad someday, we can do whatever we want to anyone, at any time, without cause or justification, and without limit" is the excuse used by every tyrant ever. It has no place in a Just Nation.
“Illegal phone search,” you say?
The "Libertarian in me" says he has no right to enter the US, period. Full stop.
Nobody's forcing him to come here.
The libertarian in me agrees with
the libertarian in you.
I'm guessing you would be surprised to find out that it was our Founding Fathers (You know, Jefferson, Madison, Washington, etc.) who granted these sweeping powers via the Revenue Cutter Act of 1790.
Please go on about who's the unmitigated moron...
The article is about a non-citizen and you made a statement of ending the searches.
Clarify. Or don’t.
Clarify. Or don’t.
If you have read my prior posts in this thread, I think I have clarified, but I will do so again for your benefit.
The same rules apply to returning citizens, and I don't believe that forcing someone to unlock their laptop or phone for inspection of its contents is necessary to keep the United States secure.
What will be next? You must enumerate and unlock all social media accounts to inspect them for "suspicious ties to terrorism?"
This is a direct outgrowth from the post 9/11 Patriot Act mentality where privacy rights are trampled in the name of security, when it has been shown that not a single terrorist attack has been thwarted by examining one's iPhone at a port of entry.
In this day and age, if one wants to smuggle kiddie porn or bomb making instructions into the United States, all they have to do is to put it on a server somewhere and download it when they are in the U.S.
So if the process doesn't make any difference, then why give the government the authority?
The whole process is ripe for abuse, as we are learning how the FISA courts were abused to spy on then candidate Trump.
Burner phone, burner tablet and burner email. That is how friends of mine do it when they travel to Europe.
You made a blanket statement in a comment on a thread about a non-citizen being barred entry from a search.
That is all.
That is all.
YOU formulated an opinion, and dismissed my comments without reading the entire linked article that the snippet you are dismissing came from.
Read the fine article before you jump to conclusions based on an excerpt.
You’re wrong. Read up on ICE and CBP authorities.
Maybe you ought to clarify your comments. Just like an asshat libertarian: Dictating to everyone else.
‘There is always more to a story then what is printed. I wonder why the agents would spend hours on one individual. Perhaps they knew something we don’t.’
I agree, it’s a HUGE EFFORT to screen people in that way, and anyone who’s entered this country through a large airport immediately realizes that probably 99 percent of the people coming in are not even looked at, and that of those few who are stopped, probably 98 percent are ‘searched’ simply by putting their bags through an x-ray - it takes a lot of time to rifle through phones and gigabytes of data. While anything is possible, perhaps they’re like the IRS and TSA and look at a small number of people randomly as much to calibrate the threat they face. But our government has access to much more data than we’re aware of - and this guy, for example, may have a rap sheet in Brazil...for all we know [I wouldn’t expect a blog that’s trying to get me mad to tell me something pertinent like that, even if it were the case here].
As to legality, that’s a no-brainer - the 4th Amendment simply doesn’t apply at the borders and if it ever did, we can kiss this country goodbye [as an aside, if the leftists on the Supreme Court want this country to end tomorrow, all they need to do is extend the 4th Amendment to the border]. The fact that people now have some stuff electronic, rather than on paper doesn’t change anything, they’re still crossing the border and are still carrying materials with them - that simple. There’s no such thing as an ‘illegal’ search of someone crossing the border, and that applies to EVERY country in the world, so it’s just hype here.
If you really are a bad guy, then yes, you are only delaying the inevitable.
If you’re only being detained because you’re being harassed by a prick of a Federal Agent, this is a perfectly effective strategy, as it will get you over his head to a supervisor. If you are polite with the supervisor and don’t have contraband or other evidence of a crime, they’re not gonna keep you in custody over a “cheap, malfunctioning phone, Sir. I only still have it cause I’m not tech savvy and I don’t know how to transfer my contacts list.”
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