Category Archives: Border search

Law360: Border Phone Search Questions Continue In Fed. Court

Law360: Border Phone Search Questions Continue In Fed. Court: Can the federal government confiscate, search and retain your cellphone at the border for no reason at all?

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EFF: Seventh Circuit Dodges an Opportunity to Protect Travelers from Invasive Border Searches of Electronic Devices

EFF: Seventh Circuit Dodges an Opportunity to Protect Travelers from Invasive Border Searches of Electronic Devices by Saira Hussain & Sophia Cope:

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CNET: DHS gave border agents free rein over thousands of warrantless device searches

CNET: DHS gave border agents free rein over thousands of warrantless device searches by James Martin: Border agents conducted more than 33,000 device searches in 2018. Court records show they were allowed to share what they found with other government … Continue reading

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CNET: US border search demand violated Apple employee’s constitutional rights, ACLU says

CNET: US border search demand violated Apple employee’s constitutional rights, ACLU says by Steven Shankland:

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D.S.C.: Forced catheterization of children for UA stated a 4A claim

Plaintiff stated a claim that forced catheterization of her children for a UA was a Fourth Amendment violation. Whether there was consent in the face of an alleged threat to take the children without a UA also goes to a … Continue reading

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Reason: Border Agents Detained a 9-Year-Old U.S. Citizen for 30+ Hours

Reason: Border Agents Detained a 9-Year-Old U.S. Citizen for 30+ Hours by Joe Setyon:

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CA7: SW not required by Riley and Carpenter for cell phone and computer searches at border

The Seventh Circuit finds that the border search exception was not affected by Riley and Carpenter such that a search warrant is required for search of electronics at the border. United States v. Wanjiku, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 8154 (7th … Continue reading

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D.D.C.: Officers’ testimony about smell of PCP was too equivocal to be reliable

The officers’ testimony about allegedly smelling PCP when they stopped defendant was too equivocal through the hearing to be reliable. A patdown of defendant off that alleged smell produced a gun in his pocket. Defendant’s alleged consent to the patdown … Continue reading

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CA5: No RS for def’s stop on totality <50 miles from border

There was no reasonable suspicion on the totality for defendant’s stop less than 50 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Officer’s experience was too limited to provide much of anything. United States v. Freeman, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 2622 … Continue reading

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CA3: Cabin search of cruise ship at border non-routine, but QI granted here

This is a suit over a 2008 search at USVI port of the plaintiff’s cabin on the Adventure of the Seas cruise ship. Plaintiff was in the Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS), a CBP database for intel, from prior travels … Continue reading

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techdirt: CBP Will Search You And Your Property If You’re Paying Too Much Attention To An Agent. Or Too Little.

techdirt: CBP Will Search You And Your Property If You’re Paying Too Much Attention To An Agent. Or Too Little. by Tim Cushing:

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D.V.I.: Court doubts legal authority for border searches from mainland to VI, but GFE applies

The court doubts the legal basis for customs searches of people traveling nonstop from the U.S. mainland to the Virgin Islands because there is no international travel. Reliance on the V.I. Code doesn’t provide any real help to the government. … Continue reading

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D.Minn.: Border search of love letter in car led to more inquiries and then finding CP

A secondary search at the border can still be “routine” depending on its intensity. In this district, “routine” deals with searches of the person. Here, it was a search of a letter in the car that was a basically love … Continue reading

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engadget: New lawsuit shows your phone is unsafe at American borders

engadget: New lawsuit shows your phone is unsafe at American borders by Violet Blue: CBP = Customs and Border Profiling

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Gizmodo: Woman Sues Border Agents to Make Them Return Data They Seized From Her Phone

Gizmodo: Woman Sues Border Agents to Make Them Return Data They Seized From Her Phone by Melanie Ehrenkranz:

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WaPo: In horrifying detail, women accuse U.S. customs officers of invasive body searches

WaPo: In horrifying detail, women accuse U.S. customs officers of invasive body searches by Susan Ferriss, Center for Public Integrity:

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S.D.Cal.: Cell phone was validly searched under border search exception; obtaining passcode was likely unlawful, but government isn’t going to use it

Defendant was arrested at Calexico for importing meth. While in the holding cell, she gave up the password for the cell phone. The government isn’t going to use her revealing the password as evidence, but it wants to use the … Continue reading

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S.D.Tex.: Warrantless search of cell phone six years after border crossing violated 4A

Defendant crossed the border in July 2012, and his phone was seized and somewhat analyzed. On the eve of trial in July 2018, the government did a full search without a warrant. Defendant moves to suppress, and it’s granted. The … Continue reading

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TX8: Hospital can’t be sued under § 1983 for medical negligence and battery in conducting intensive body, pelvic, and rectal searches for CBP that produced nothing at all

Plaintiff, an El Paso resident, was stopped at the border coming into El Paso from visiting a friend and subjected to several searches for drugs, including taking her to the appellant hospital for x-rays and a pelvic exam. Nothing was … Continue reading

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NACDL: Riling Up the Border Search Doctrine: Litigating Searches of Digital Content at Our Ports of Entry

NACDL, The Champion: Riling Up the Border Search Doctrine: Litigating Searches of Digital Content at Our Ports of Entry by Aisha J. Dennis, The Champion 40-46 (Mar. 2018)

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