Thinking of traveling to US? Wiping your phone at immigration could land you in trouble - here is how
For many travellers, arriving in a new country usually means clearing immigration, collecting baggage, and beginning their trip. However, another possibility is increasingly becoming part
For many travellers, arriving in a new country usually means clearing immigration, collecting baggage, and beginning their trip. However, another possibility is increasingly becoming part of the border experience, especially when entering the United States: being asked to hand over a phone for inspection. From tourists and students to business travellers and even US citizens, electronic device searches at border crossings have drawn growing attention over privacy concerns and travellers' rights. One such incident involved Atlanta-based activist Samuel Tunick, who was returning from a vacation in the Dominican Republic. Also Read | Trump admin mandates green card applicants to apply from home countries Here's what happened Tunick was stopped by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, who demanded his cellphone and the passcode to unlock it, saying they were searching for child sexual abuse material, US News reported on Monday (local time). However, Tunick's device was powered by GrapheneOS, an Android-based operating system that features a "duress" PIN capable of erasing all data and restoring the phone to its factory settings. When border agents entered the PIN he gave them, the outcome was not what they had anticipated.
Following this incident, Tunick faced federal charges under a rarely used statute that makes it a criminal offence to destroy property to prevent its seizure. As a result, a federal court in Georgia has become ground zero for what could be a far-reaching legal battle over federal border searches and the rights of Americans to resist them. The activist's lawyers argued that the demand from CBP officials to search his phone was invalid because it violated his constitutional rights. They said, "Evidence obtained from Mr. Tunick’s phone – or lack thereof – should be suppressed as fruits of unlawfully obtained evidence." His legal team also claimed that Tunick was being probed for his involvement in the “Defend the Atlanta Forest” movement, also known as “Stop Cop City,” which is aimed at opposing the construction of a police training facility. Also Read | Illegal immigration from India to US sees nearly 70 % drop They further noted that the child sex material claim was “a pretext for a fishing expedition into Mr. Tunick’s connections with the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement,” their lawyers contended. While American citizens cannot be denied entry back into the country for simply refusing to turn over passcodes, some immigration attorneys suggest that doing so can result in processing delays and the confiscation of the device in question.
The BriefWire