Overview
- Under the Fourth Amendment border-search exception, U.S. border officers may examine the contents of phones, laptops and tablets without a warrant at ports of entry.
- CBP policy distinguishes basic manual inspections from advanced forensic extractions that are supposed to require reasonable suspicion and supervisor approval, though courts apply different standards.
- Devices can be retained for up to five days with possible seven-day extensions in extraordinary cases, and advocates have documented weeks or months of detention despite a stated 21-day deletion window for unused data copies.
- Officers are limited to data stored locally on the device and should disable connectivity or request airplane mode to avoid accessing cloud content, a step experts also advise travelers to take.
- Refusal to unlock carries different consequences by immigration status—U.S. citizens cannot be denied entry though devices may be held, visa holders risk denial of entry—and Canada has issued a public warning as travelers may seek redress through DHS's TRIP program.