ACLU: Border Agents Violate Constitution When They Search Electronic Devices
May 2nd, 2019Via: NPR:
The American Civil Liberties Union says it has uncovered new evidence that federal border agents are violating the Constitution when they search travelers’ electronic devices.
The ACLU, along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sued the federal government in 2017, alleging that its “warrantless and suspicionless searches” of electronic devices at the U.S. ports of entry violated the First and Fourth amendments. Lawyers now say that, through depositions of border agents, they have learned that the scope of the warrantless searches has expanded far beyond the mere enforcement of immigration and customs laws.
Border officers have the authority to search belongings for contraband, or to determine who is admissible into the U.S., the ACLU said. But agents now “claim authority to search travelers’ devices for general law enforcement purposes, such as looking for potential evidence of illegal activity beyond violations of immigration and customs laws,” plaintiffs wrote.
“That claimed authority extends to enforcing ‘hundreds’ of federal laws, including tax, bankruptcy, environmental, and consumer protection laws. Defendants’ asserted purposes for conducting warrantless or suspicionless device searches also include intelligence gathering or advancing pre-existing investigations.”
These practices violate the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure, the ACLU wrote. They also violate the First Amendment, attorneys said, because people traveling to the U.S. might censor themselves, knowing that a border agent might look through their phone.
In a filing this week in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, the lawyers asked the government to rule in their favor without a trial.
“Let’s get one thing clear,” the ACLU said in a statement. “The government cannot use the pretext of the ‘border’ to make an end run around the Constitution.”
