Boggie Dog

Would be refreshing if the courts protected the rights of the people instead of protecting government overreach for a change.

TWA884

For indexing and future search purposes, a post discussing how to protect private and proprietary information and electronic devices from being infected by malware during customs searches was moved to the relevant thread:
TWA884
Travel Safety/Security co-moderator

lhrsfo

Speaking as a non-citizen visitor to the USA, of course I have zero rights and, as far as I can tell, the Customs officers have no restrictions on what they can do to me, and no obligations to keep such actions reasonable or proportionate.

Having said all that, I cannot imagine anything I have on my phone or my laptop which would be of any conceivable interest to a Customs officer unless he or she is a Russian hacker. It's a risk I'm prepared to take - and one of a far lower magnitude than choosing to visit the USA which is not really known for its due process or rule of law.

kmersh

My Brother In-law is Swiss and visits the states probably 4-5x times a year and generally is in and out of Immigration and Customs within a short amount of time. This time around he got sent to Immigration secondary and was asked to unlock his phone so that they could ensure that he was coming to the states strictly for tourism purposes and not to work.

He was honest, he was happy to unlock his phone with his finger, but he had forgotten the pin code some time back and has been using his fingerprint ever since until at which time he can properly back up his phone, reset it to factory and then create a new PIN which hopefully he will not forget (he has since done exactly that). The agent sort of rolled his eyes and did have him unlock his phone with his fingerprint and then started to read his text messages with my wife (his sister) and other contacts in his phone. The only issue was that a majority of this text messages were in German and the CBP Officer did not read German so he had to call a translator to read them for him.

My BIL said he was asked to unlock the phone again when the translator arrived and every so often after that as the phone re-locked itself if the translator did not keep the screen active.

In the end the CBP Officer admonished him that while he was satisfied that my BIL was coming for a legitimate purpose (tourism), he should set a new PIN ASAP as while he (the CBP Officer) was not going to confiscate his phone (at that moment) he could do so simply because my BIL was not able to provide a PIN so as the CBP Officer could unlock the phone without my BIL present.

My BIL said that the CBP Officer remained polite the entire time and beyond the extra time it took, he never felt like he was in any sort of trouble. In fact, he asked the CBP Officer if he could somehow alert his sister (my wife) that he was going to be a little late and the Officer did allow him to call my wife and alert her which my BIL thought was nice of him as other Officers denied the same requests from other travelers.

yandosan

" the Customs officers have no restrictions on what they can do to me"

Let's not go too far. That sounds creepy.

FliesWay2Much

I'm having a hard time processing that statement other than to conclude that it was simply a legal cop lie designed to intimidate.

looker001

To me that is violation of privacy. It's also none of their business.

kmersh

It maybe my poor wording or my paraphrasing of my BIL experience having his phone searched by CBP which caused the confusion, if that is the case my apologies and I have attempted to retell the episode in more detail (as reported by my BIL) to clarify any areas which may have caused confusion. Again, my apologies for any confusion that I may have caused you (or anyone else).

It is my understanding when my BIL spoke with the first CBP Officer (the officer in the booth) he was asked why he comes to the states so much, when he responded for recreation and to visit his sister. The officer than asked if he works, he said yes and the officer followed up with how can you afford to take off that sort of time from work to visit the states for a approximately 15 days a clip 4-5x a a year and what job would allow for that.

My BIL explained that he works for the family business and is allowed to make his own schedule and as long as the work is done properly, his father, the owner of the company does not care nor mandate a specific work schedule for himself or any employee at the company.

The officer either did not believe my BIL or for whatever reason which I cannot speculate to sent him to Immigration secondary for further investigation. My BIL said that he sat on a bench for a while before he was called to a large desk where he was informed by the second officer that he was sent to secondary because the first officer suspected that he was working illegally in the USA. The officer than asked him point blank if he is working in the USA, my BIL said no and was than asked the same two questions he was asked by the first officer. After my BIL provided the same answers to the second officer that he provided to first officer, the second officer followed up with how much money my BIL had available to support himself while he was visiting. My BIL said that he had about $400USD in cash but had credit cards with plenty of room to cover his stay and could always in case of emergency or some unforeseen circumstance ask his sister (my wife) for help, but he did not foresee that happening.

It was at this point that the officer asked to see my BIL's phone and said that he wanted to look at his texts and emails and see if he was telling the truth about the purpose of his visit. My BIL handed over the phone and said absolutely no issues that he had nothing to hide and the officer should feel free to look at whatever he likes to satisfy himself that my BIL was coming for legitimate purpose.

Again, my apologies if my wording confused you (or anyone else) and furthermore my BIL seemed to feel that the entire episode was about working illegally (he was coming as part of the Visa Waiver Program) and not anything else more nefarious.

looker001

The more I read this the more i feel lucky that i am us citizens and call tell this guy none of your business. While they can "attempt" to search my phone depending in which airport i land, i am not obligated to actually unlocked the phone for them.

Rare

looker001

I could see that happening. I am personally not in those programs so can't say for sure

seawolf

looker001

So you do not see an issue with government employee reading private conversations?

Boggie Dog

Without a warrant stating what evidence is being sought I do have a problem. The courts have so devalued the 4th Amendment that it has little worth in far two many cases.

Yoshi212

https://thehill.com/policy/technolog...tronic-devices
Senators Paul & Wyden have introduced a bill to stop warrantless searches at the border.