Detentions of tourists, often in unpleasant conditions for extended periods, are in the news. One academic was denied entry to the U.S. because his phone reportedly contained comments critical of Donald Trump. Is it safe to travel into the U.S with your devices? Gaby Del Valle reasons through the arguments at The Verge.
If you're a US citizen, "you have the right to say no" to a search, "and they are not allowed to bar you from the country," Hussain said. But if you refuse, CBP can still take your phone, laptop, or other devices and hold onto them.
Permanent residents can similarly refuse a search, but with complicating factors. If someone with a green card leaves the US for more than 180 days, they're screened for "inadmissibility" — reasons they may be barred from entry — upon returning to the country. Green card holders who have certain offenses on their record may also be deemed inadmissible. That appears to have been the case with Fabian Schmidt, a permanent resident whose family said he was "violently interrogated" by CBP agents at Boston Logan Airport after returning from a trip to Europe. Because of these factors, permanent residents may not feel comfortable refusing a search, even if doing so wouldn't bar them from entering the country.
Visa holders have fewer rights at ports of entry, and refusing a search could lead to them being denied entry to the country.
Consider the famous words of 17th-century French statesman Cardinal Richelieu: "If you give me six emojis sent by the hand of the most honest of men, I will find something in them which will deny him entry at Dulles."
Why take a chance? If you can afford international travel, you can likely stretch to a travel phone and travel laptop. It's good to do this anyway, to limit your exposure to costly damages, losses, identity theft, and all the other hazards presented by traveling with gadgets.
Previously:
• TSA will let you travel with a motorcycle airbag
• Travel without baggage
• Fake trailer for all those 'White Middle-Aged Man Travels Around Again' shows from Britain
