Border Agents Can Search Americans' Phones Without a Warrant Within 100 Miles

Summary

If you live in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, or virtually any other major American city, you are almost certainly within 100 miles of a national border or coastline. That means federal border agents have the legal authority to search your phone without a warrant and without any suspicion of wrongdoing. The same rule applies at international airports, regardless of how far inland they sit. Courts have carved out what's known as the "border search exception" to the Fourth Amendment, reasoning that the government's interest in controlling what crosses its borders outweighs the usual requirement for a warrant. Customs and Border Protection agents can demand access to your device, and while they technically distinguish between "basic" and "advanced" searches, neither requires a judge's sign-off. The policy applies to American citizens as well as foreign nationals. Civil liberties groups have challenged the practice for years, arguing it amounts to a warrantless dragnet over roughly two-thirds of the U.S. Population, since about 200 million Americans live within that 100-mile band. Courts have so far largely declined to shut it down.