Phone searches at the border
A lot of you probably saw how Hasan Piker was questioned at the border reentering the USA. We have followers who travel all over the world, so we wanted to share some tips for dealing with searches of your phone at the border.
It IS LEGAL for law-enforcement at the border or a port of entry to search your phone. This goes for both citizens and non citizens. Generally, law-enforcement may do so without a warrant. The chances of getting searched are quite low, but never 0.
Before you leave
- Make sure your phone OS is fully updated, since updates usually include latest security fixes
- Make backups of everything on your phone, so if it gets seized, you’ll still have all of your stuff
- We’ve gone over this in more depth before, but make sure your phone is protected by a strong password. Make sure your it can’t be unlocked via fingerprint or face scan
At the border
- Turn your device off at entry point to counteract passive data collection methods
- Don’t open your phone or give the password to officers. They might try to convince you or lie to you and say that you have to unlock your phone, but that’s not true. Don’t do it.
If you won’t unlock for officers, they can seize your phone for an indeterminate length of time (that’s where the phone backup comes in), but at least they won’t know what’s on it. If you’re running, say, a newer iPhone and updated OS, they likely won’t be able to crack it either
If you’re a citizen, you can’t be kept out for not unlocking your phone. For green card holders, there are probably some legal Qs that we aren’t qualified to answer. If you’re just coming to visit, however, you can be turned away at the border for not submitting to the search.
Our post is just the extreme basics. Electronic Frontier foundation has a ton of free and more in depth info covering phones and other devices.
This post prepared with assistance of an attorney. This is not legal advice and YPT is not your lawyer.
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