Since Donald Trump was elected to president, more and more restrictions have been placed on travelers entering the United States. So far, policies have ranged from the travel ban on certain Muslim majority countries, which has since been repealed, to the restrictions on laptops and tablets on flights coming from places like Turkey and Jordan. More recently, stories have come out about travelers who have been forced to hand over their phones and social media passports when entering the US. Refusing to do this has led some of them to be detained and interrogated until they eventually gave up and allowed customs to search their phones. As international students, traveling in and out of the US is something that we do a lot, and therefore it is important to know your rights at the border. The searching of your phone leads to certain questions. Can customs force you to give up your phone? Are they allowed to detain you if you refuse to do so? How long can they detain you? And are they allowed to refuse you entry into the US?
The first question is perhaps the most important: is customs allowed to search your phone? The answer is a little bit complicated, because there is no precedent regarding it. Technically, the Fourth Amendment protects people in the US from being searched without a probable cause, however this is different at the border, where the Fourth Amendment does not apply. Customs can ask you to give up your social media passwords, and since December, there have been forms asking people to do this. Customs is also technically allowed to fully search your phone, and to copy the data on your phone. However, there have been judicial rulings that have said that customs needs probable cause to search your phone, meaning they have to show that you were suspected to have committed a crime, or were about to commit a crime. In the end, the giving up of your phone password is kind of a grey-zone, where it is not entirely sure if customs can ask you to do this, but the giving up of your social media passwords is something customs can ask of you.
Now comes the question, if you refuse to give up your phone or social media password, are you allowed to be detained? The simple answer is, yes. If you are not a US citizen, you could even be denied access to the country, which can have even bigger repercussions in the future. If you are a US citizen, you can still be detained for a long period of time, but you are not allowed to be denied entrance. Green card holders have it almost the same as US citizens, as in they can be detained but not denied entrance into the country. Nonetheless, your green card can be taken away from you, which will be done after a hearing from a judge, which you can wait for while in the country.
So how long are you allowed to be detained? Well, there isn’t really any policy on that. If you are not a US citizen or green card holder, most likely you will be sent back after being detained for some time. If you are a US citizen or green card holder, prepare to be detained for as long as customs wants. US citizens do have rights to a lawyer while being detained at the border. If you are not a citizen, you do not have the right to a lawyer, however when your status as an immigrant starts being threatened, aka when they are about to sent you away, you do have the right to a lawyer.
Remember, when you are at the border, you basically have no rights if you are not a US citizen. The customs agents can search your phone, they can ask for your social media passwords, and they can send you back. The best thing to do in this situation is to just comply and give up your password. As horrible as that sounds, it is something that can severely impact your future in this country. If you really do not want to give up your information, the best thing to do is to travel without a phone or laptop in your hand luggage, so that there is nothing for you to give up. And with the new restrictions on electronic devices larger than a phone on planes, it might just be easier to go without technology while traveling.
Sources:
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/blogs
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/16/us/border-legal-rights-faq-trnd/
**Note: This information represents the research of the author and does not act as official legal advice from the International Students & Scholars Office.
