DHS Documents Show Harassment And Intrusive Device Searches Are A Common Occurrence At US Borders

This is apparently the price we pay to live in the Land of the Free:

Grievances over lost privacy run through a trove of roughly 250 complaints by people whose laptops and phones were searched without a warrant as they crossed the United States border. Filed with the Department of Homeland Security since 2011, mostly during the Obama administration, these stories add a personal dimension to a growing debate over rights, security and technology.

There are nearly 100 pages of long, detailed complaints in the document [PDF] turned over by the DHS in response to the Knight Institute's' FOIA request. The incidents detailed are troubling, seemingly going beyond what's needed to actually secure the nation's borders. Multiple complaints show intrusive searches and questioning are routine, even if the destinations traveled to are equally routine.

My fiance and our families along with 38 guests were there to celebrate our wedding, While going through Customs again I was asked to take a seat on the wall. but this time my wife was told to do the same. After 10 minutes a customs officer approached vs and told us to go with him. This time both my bags and my wifes bags were searched. Along with being searched the officer asked a series of very personal questions about my background. I answered the questions to the best of my ability. He then proceeded to ask me questions if I was ever charged with rape or child molestation. Even when I gave him a stern no he asked the question three more times. All this is going on while my newlywed wife is standing right next to me. I do not see why is was necessary for your officer to talk to me that way and treat me like that in front of my wife. My background proves that I have never been charged with either offense.

[...]

As soon as I got out of the car I was questioned by the custom officer who was there to inspect the car and he wanted to have proof that I had a P2 because I told him I work in the states as a singer. When I was inside the customs officer at the booth questioned me then went outside to check on the status of my vehicle. Once he was back inside he then asked me to enter a room and had another female customs officer along with him. Once we were inside he joked and said the reason for the female officer to be present was because he didn't want me to feel like he was hitting on me as he was sure it happens a lot with other customs officers. He had my phone along with another passengers and asked me to open only mine although they were both locked. He also told me that he had the right to do this without my permission. His reason for doing this was on the passenger's phone there was a picture of me and he felt he needed to make sure I wasn't in the U.S for escorting purposes. I told him I am a singer and also do a lot of modeling and he was my boyfriend and I don't feel that was a valid reason to go through my personal property and that I felt he was taking it to far by accusing me of being an escort. He told me once again that he could do this and that he didn't need my permission and that I had no idea of the high tech devices that they had in there that would make the average person crazy if they knew what they could do.

[...]

I visit my cousins in Canada with my wife and children once in a while with my automobile. Every time I cross the American border to return to my home in Rochester, New York I get detained for 4 plus hours. Four to Five officials come to my car and they lead my family and I to the border. They lock my family and I in a room for hours. Also an official always comes from Buffalo to question me. They make me fill out an information sheet they go through my children's and wife's cell phones, laptop, and purses. After having all of our possessions and information, they still take 4 plus hours to release us.

[...]

My laptop was detained by CBP officer March 13th at Denver Airport. This was the second time in a row I was subjected to additional screening and talking as officer described it. They told me the reason was, because we have had problems with other people with J2 Visa. Is this REALLY a valid reason to detain my personal items, because CBP has problems with someone else? DHS gave my laptop back to my wife. After demanding it they gave her a receipt that shows EIGHT persons have been handling my personal laptop computer and external hard drive. They told at the same time that all my files were copied and to be reviewed.

[...]

During the complainants visit of the site of a historical monument, a worker asked complainant if he would like to leave his bag in the care of the museum workers. When complainant returned for the bag, the FBI had seized and placed all of complainants belongings across tables. FBI questioned complainant for a couple of hours and scanned and shipped his laptop to the FBI office in long Beach. Complainant has experienced difficulties flying internationally and even domestically since this incident… Upon return to the United States, the DHS questioned the complainant at LAX because they thought complainant was the owner of his brothers store. Complainants brother was arrested for possession and selling counterfeit merchandise in April 2010… The LAX DHS searched through complainants computer,phones, and other belongings for approximately 5 to 6 hours.

For the most part, DHS complaints are as effective as shouting into the void. Until 2015, there were no redress options available to citizens receiving extra screening or banned from flying. A series of lawsuits finally forced the DHS to at least tell affected travelers they were forbidden from traveling, but the agency still relies on court decisions saying almost all rights are waived within 100 miles of US borders. Those who aren't US citizens are even more screwed.

There have been a handful of legislative efforts to force DHS, CBP, and TSA to limit intrusive searches of electronic devices, but so far nothing has landed on the president's desk. As of now, DHS components barely have to conjure up reasonable suspicion to search devices' contents, and little more than that to seize these items indefinitely.

This is the status quo -- or at least would be if it had remained in stasis since 2001. But it constantly appears to be getting worse. And there won't be any improvement for the next four years at least. This administration treats foreign citizens as criminals and Trump's DOJ has made "securing the borders" one of its priorities. Carrying out this objective hasn't been left to smarter processes or better use of intelligence, but rather taken the form of hyper-aggressive enforcement and further diminishing of rights near our nation's borders.