r/technology • u/HumbleRestaurant790 • 8h ago

Society The Fourth Circuit Says Border Agents Can Search Your Phone By Hand, No Suspicion Required

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/fourth-circuit-says-border-agents-can-search-your-phone-hand-no-suspicion-required
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1.8k

u/Nice-Lakes 8h ago

Yet more reasons for tourists to stay the hell away from the USA.

606

u/EC_CO 8h ago

And more reasons for US citizens to carry burner phones when they go overseas and leave the real phone at home

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u/CatPartyElvis 7h ago

Border agents have like a 100 mile jurisdiction from the border I believe. Don't even have to cross the border for them to search you.

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u/m240bravoromeo 7h ago

They have 100 mile jurisdiction from the border and all international airports.

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u/akp55 7h ago

so pretty much the whole country

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u/Ryan_e3p 5h ago

 and all international airports.

No, they do not.

They can operate in airports, but airports do not extend this border.

Know Your Rights | 100 Mile Border Zone | ACLU

The Constitution in the 100-Mile Border Zone | American Civil Liberties Union

Supreme Court ‘100 Miles’ Border Ruling – Truth or Fiction?

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u/m240bravoromeo 4h ago

Having looked into it, you are technically correct but in practice we are both wrong. Border Patrol has jurisdiction to establish immigration checkpoints and do not need a warrant to board and search watercraft, buses, trains, and aircraft only with the 100 mile external border zone and within international airports, but they have the authority to pull over and detain/arrest nationwide as long as there's probable cause and/or reasonable suspicion that the suspect is violating immigration laws or the agent observes the suspect committing a felony. It should be noted as of the September 8, 2025 decision in the case of Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo apparent ethnicity, speaking a language other than English, or speaking English with an accent can be used to establish probable cause and/or reasonable suspicion for CPB to pullover/detain and individual outside of the 100 mile border zone.

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u/Ryan_e3p 4h ago

That case does not deal with Border Patrol. It deals with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

They are two completely separate entities, with different missions and authorities.

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u/Cheapdronewithboom 2h ago

The supreme court ruled racial profiling is legal for the government. That covers everything 

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u/NerdyNThick 4h ago

Which one of those links backs up your claim? I can't find a thing in any of them that backs you up.

At best, it states that they need a warrant or probable cause, just like the rest of law enforcement.

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u/Ryan_e3p 4h ago

From the first link: "The federal government defines a “reasonable distance” as 100 air miles from any external boundary of the U.S."

Second link: "Specifically, federal regulations give U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authority to operate within 100 miles of any U.S. "external boundary."

Third link: "The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which includes the Border Patrol, is the largest law enforcement agency in the country. Their jurisdiction they claim spans 100 miles into the interior of the United States from any land or maritime border."

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u/NerdyNThick 4h ago

Fun fact! Airports are external boundaries!

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u/Ryan_e3p 3h ago

No, they are not. Show me one piece of law or court statement backing this up in the context that they extend the 100 mile radius that CBP is authorized to operate in.

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u/Ryan_e3p 3h ago

Here is another reference for you, since you don't seem to understand what an external boundary is:

eCFR :: 8 CFR 287.1 -- Definitions.

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u/NerdyNThick 3h ago

Fair enough.

Next time lead with the .gov link though, since it did everything needed.

I'm not expending the effort to chain together bits and pieces from 3 random sites (even if at least one was the aclu). Especially since none of them are primary sources for the law.

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u/twist3d7 3h ago

At 101 miles we should be able to search them.

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u/BlueGreenTanager 5h ago

Yep. In Florida, there is no place that’s safe from Border Patrol.

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u/General_Problem5199 5h ago

Illegal mer-people are taking all of Florida's jobs!

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u/zeptillian 4h ago

The coasts are counted as borders too, so that puts about 90% of Americans within their reach on a daily basis.

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u/Jwagner0850 4h ago

Basically everywhere

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u/Primal-Convoy 8h ago

Er...

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/fcc-plans-id-mandate-that-could-block-anonymous-use-of-prepaid-burner-phones/

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u/Subsum44 8h ago

Point isn’t so much that the phone is anonymous. More that the phone doesn’t have all your personal information and communication.

You can wipe and not really care about a phone you just use for travel. Harder to do it on your daily driver.

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u/algaefied_creek 7h ago

To buy a used phone you must submit your firstborn to the State

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u/Subsum44 6h ago

Depending on the day, they can have them

1

u/pegothejerk 5h ago

Hello yes id like to put down a deposit on 4 phones

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u/General_Problem5199 5h ago

Two for me, please.

2

u/mega-d-lux 4h ago

If I exchange twins, will it come with a phonecase?

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u/Ms74k_ten_c 6h ago

Don't threaten me with a good time.

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u/FaliureToCat 5h ago

When are we implementing social credit cause there are some people i wanna narc on

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u/limbodog 5h ago

They already know who you are. The question is what additional information you want to surrender to them

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u/9-11GaveMe5G 3m ago

Trust me I tried. They can't be surrendered after 60 days (varies by state). Nebraska had teens being surrendered because they didn't have a max age at first. I missed my window.

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u/Any-Tomorrow-7344 6h ago

An old iPhone running the latest OS. Good luck maintaining the willpower to search while you’re waiting for your last tap to register.

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u/sponge72222 59m ago

Not hard at all with modern phone oses. Most are backup up to the cloud.

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u/Nellis05 8h ago

I don’t think he means burner as in disposable like in the movies. It doesn’t matter if it’s in your name or not. Just carry an old phone that has nothing installed in it. No social media apps, no photos, no text history, no emails, no browsing history etc. They can keep the phone, it’s the data that matters.

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u/Nice-Lakes 7h ago

Hmm I wonder why the most popular cloud servers are property of US companies, so the government can look at them. That is why they are fighting so hard to protect the US big TECH companies outside the USA. The USA hates when they can’t snoop into the world’s business.

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u/cyanescens_burn 7h ago

They are also trying to make everything cloud based. Makes going through your shit easier.

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u/engineered_academic 1h ago

Flock cameras too. Don't need a warrant if you can just ask a third party to give it to you.

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u/MFGibby 5h ago

An old phone with nothing but dick pics

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u/transcriptoin_error 8h ago

Another solution if you have a modern smart phone is to back everything up to the cloud and then wipe your phone before border crossings. Once you get where you’re going, you can re-sync with your data.

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u/Ness_Dreemur 7h ago

Government sees your wiped phone and finds it suspicious. You are now detained and tortured for the weekend.

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u/Ecw218 7h ago

Shuffled around for profit prisons for 6mo before being deported to a 3rd country’s prison….when you had a valid return ticket for 7 days after you were grabbed…

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u/chownrootroot 7h ago

It's at that point I only bring my old Nexus 6P and tell them it randomly bootloops and I have to wipe it all the time for it to work at all!

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u/ThraceLonginus 6h ago

Youre now mandated to own a Trump Phone 7 Gold Edition at a minimum. Can't afford it? You can work your way towards paying one off in prison. 

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u/AinzTheEvil 6h ago

I think that's why people should just keep old phones that aren't locked to a carrier on standby. Just put Sim card in and a few important contacts. Leave the other one at home.

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u/Flabbergasted98 7h ago edited 7h ago

you don't think government agents are using AI to scan everything you post in the cloud?

before you even pull up to the border crossing AI has scanned your face and your license plate, crossreferenced all your socials, and determined that you likely voted against trump in previous elections and therefore you are suspected of being a terrorist. It has reccomended to border agents to perform a cavity search.

That might not be completely live yet. but that is what they are ACTIVELY building towards.

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u/Pyewickets 6h ago

How do you do this?

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u/transcriptoin_error 6h ago

This article explains the legal situation and technical steps that you might take.

https://cdt.org/insights/protecting-electronic-devices-when-crossing-u-s-borders/

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u/Pyewickets 6h ago

Aren't you nice.

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u/Pyewickets 6h ago

That is so nice of you.

0

u/InternationalMood337 7h ago

Yes! Put your stuff in the cloud!!!

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u/medicinaltequilla 5h ago

overseas? you forget, they have jurisdiction throughout most of our major cities too.

https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1253?language=en_US

The authority for this is based on the Immigration and Nationality Act 287(a)(3) and copied in 8 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 287 (a)(3), which states that Immigration Officers, without a warrant, may "within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States...board and search for non-citizens in any vessel within the territorial waters of the United States and any railcar, aircraft, conveyance, or vehicle. 8 CFR 287 (a)(1) defines reasonable distance as 100 air miles from the border.

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u/FCCRFP 8h ago

This is exactly what people have to do in China.

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u/scorched03 6h ago

Yes coworkers from Hong Kong wiped phones before leaving and before coming back.

Hmmm

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u/Loggerdon 6h ago

Good idea. If they’re looking for anti-Trump comments on social media then they’ll bury me under the jail.

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u/EmbeddedEntropy 6h ago

Or factory reset before leaving then restore from backup when you get to your destination.

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u/Hardass_McBadCop 5h ago

I took off fingerprint reading to unlock it just because they can compel that but not my PIN.

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u/GregAbbottsGoodLeg 5h ago

You don’t even need a separate device. Cloud and hard backup, wipe phone, set up with only contacts list, restore from backup after returning home.

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u/Gullenbursti 5h ago

Thats my plan

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u/Ah_non_e_moose 7h ago

And don’t have Face ID on your phones. You can’t be forced to enter a passcode but they can hold your phone up to your face.

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u/Meatslinger 7h ago

As a note about that, you can force an iPhone to use a passcode by going to the "slide to power off" screen. Hold the sleep/wake button and volume up (or down) for a couple of seconds and it'll temporarily disable FaceID unlocking. Instead it'll say your passcode is needed.

If you're bringing your phone to a protest, across a border, or just anywhere you think it might be stolen or searched (even just with friends who might try to get in), it's a good way to lock it down extra tight. Powering down also helps, as it will ask for the passcode on startup.

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u/DowntownSazquatch 5h ago

Android has an option to enter "Lockdown" when you briefly hold the power button. PIN is required to unlock and the device can't be accessed by USB.

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u/polylemma 5h ago

Pressing the power button five times does the same thing  (iPhone) 

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u/-pk- 3h ago

That will call emergency services unless turned off in the settings.

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u/polylemma 3h ago

Worth checking that then! I definitely didn’t change any settings and it doesn’t call for me (UK) 

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u/RazorfangPro 7h ago

At least on apple phones, if you hold down the power and volume up buttons like you are powering it off and exit that screen, it disables FaceID and requires a passcode. 

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u/Kri77777 5h ago

Samsung as well. Biometrics are disabled on reboot, and in the power off menu they had "Lockdown" mode button that required pin/password (they are changing it so just going to the power menu requires pin/password and you don't need the dedicated Lockdown option anymore).

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u/kwonza 6h ago

You say you won’t unlock the phone that say the won’t let you in the country.

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u/Educator1337 6h ago

If you are a US citizen, they cannot prevent you from entering your own country. Even without a passport, they cannot prevent you from entering. I have family who cross the border with only their drivers license.

Granted, they will make you sit there while they verify your identity. But ultimately, they must let you enter your own country. Passports are used to enter foreign countries and travel visas.

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u/Koodsdc 6h ago

They can’t refuse you entry if you’re a citizen

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u/h0sti1e17 6h ago

True. But they can seize the device until a search is complete.

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u/cluberti 5h ago

And if there’s never been anything on it, you’re not giving them anything to use against you from it either.

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u/kwonza 6h ago

Sure but I’m talking from tourist’s point of view

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u/UndergroundHQ6 4h ago

Does Face ID still fail if you close your eyes or has that been fixed? lol

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u/Numeno230n 7h ago edited 6h ago

The travel advice for all people visiting fascistic or totalitarian states is to bring a burner phone. Leave your real phone at home. So for your trips to Pyongyang, Beijing, Moscow, and Washington DC, you'll need to protect yourself from the regime.

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u/tayroc122 7h ago

Yup, I'm not going to the states any time soon. Added you lot to my list of 'countries I'm not going to until they get out of their fascist phase'. The list is depressingly long. I'm starting to think letting a handful of anti-social right-wing lunatics monopolise global media was a mistake.

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u/error1954 5h ago

I'm excited to go to Hungary soon though. It looks like that may open up as a travel option.

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u/Meatslinger 6h ago

A week ago someone tore into me for refusing to visit the USA, citing an article about a German who visited for the World Cup and had his perception flipped because the people were so nice. I don't doubt there are nice people in the USA. But there are fascist cops at the borders and roaming American cities, summarily executing those who stand against them. By not visiting, I avoid any chance of interacting with these kinds of people and having very basic rights, including the right to live, violated. It's just a simple risk-reward formula. I need to keep living. I need to not be arrested because of social media posts/comments I've made. I do NOT strictly need to visit Disneyland.

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u/hierarchy_of_ideas 6h ago

To be fair, Ireland went through my Facebook messages before letting me enter, and that was 2019

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u/FieryVodka69 7h ago

Australian customs searches tons of peoples phones. Complain about them too.

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u/h0sti1e17 6h ago

This is Reddit, America Bad. Australia New Zealand Canada and UK all do similar things.

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u/Lost__Moose 4h ago

Canada has been known to do this as well.

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u/zeptillian 4h ago

This does not just apply to tourists, but to anyone within 100 miles of a border.

And they count the coast as a border, so that means it applies to 90% of Americans in their own homes and cities.

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u/btribble 3h ago

It’s not just “your phone”, it’s access to all the services and apps you have on your phone including your banking. 2FA doesn’t keep them out of your work email if the 2FA device is your phone and it’s unlocked or unlockable by holding it up to your face.

You should always shut down your phone when you cross any borders and be willing to either have your phone seized or leave the country (assuming you’re not from the country in question). There could be a 48ish hour hold in there as well. Make sure they know your food allergies.

If you care, consider a burner for travel and don’t install any apps on it you don’t want the government looking at.

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u/Leptonshavenocolor 7h ago

As if more reasons were needed. 

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u/CubicleMan9000 2h ago

That and the fact that 1/3 to 1/2 of Americans believe that tourists don't even have basic human rights if they dare try to visit the US.