Overview
- Wilmer Chavarria, a U.S. citizen, says CBP held him for about four hours at Houston Intercontinental, separated him from his spouse, and told him he had no Fourth Amendment rights.
- He alleges agents pressured him to surrender a laptop, phone, and tablet with passwords and that requests to contact family or a lawyer were denied before he ultimately complied.
- The lawsuit challenges CBP Directive 3340-049A, which permits suspicionless basic device searches and allows advanced searches with reasonable suspicion or a national security concern plus supervisory approval.
- It also targets ICE’s 2009 directive allowing device searches without suspicion by ICE Special Agents, a category that can include CBP or Border Patrol officers.
- The case begins its early litigation phase against a backdrop of border-search precedent, including a First Circuit ruling upholding suspicionless basic device searches, and reports of rising device inspections in recent years.