What happens when CBP confiscates your phone at the airport

Even if you haven’t done anything wrong, that’s it It is never a good idea to give your phone to the police. But international travelers at American airports are often helpless – even if they are US citizens.

When Minnesota organizer Janette Zahia Corcelius returned home from a three-week trip to Europe in late April, she was arrested and questioned by dispatchers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Before letting him go, the officers searched his bag twice, confiscated political books he had bought abroad, and confiscated his phone – which has not yet been returned, according to the complaint was filed in federal court in Minnesota.

Is it legal for Customs and Border Protection to take your phone? And save? The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which sued the government on Corcelius’ behalf, disagrees. A civil rights group says it is under scrutiny for protesting ICE raids in Minneapolis. Court Corcelius filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security claiming that the seizure of his phone violated the 4th Amendment, as well as CBP’s search and seizure regulations.

But the problem goes beyond searching on a single phone. CAIR alleges that CBP is conducting “systematic” searches of activists’ weapons, using anti-terrorism language and tools to align with left-wing protesters and activists, in line with President Donald Trump’s efforts to target what he calls “Left-Wing Militants, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists.”

According to the complaint, Corcelius called his lawyer after being pulled aside for questioning. He handed his phone to the CBP manager on duty to speak with his attorney. Then he was told that the phone had been confiscated. Some of his properties were searched by CBP agents and agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that focuses on international crime, drug trafficking, and national security threats.

CBP can carry out two types of searches of people’s phones and other devices at the border: essential transportation, which can only look at what is on the phone while in flight mode, and advanced forensic searches, in which they connect the phone to a device outside that allows them to pass and possibly copy its contents. American citizens cannot be barred from re-entering the United States even if he refuses to search the phonebut their phone can be intercepted – and if agents can unlock it, either manually, with biometrics, or with tools made by companies such as Israel-based Cellebrite, which can unlock and remove data from phonesits contents can also be searched. CBP did not respond SeasideRequest for comments during publication.

Since Trump returned to office, immigrants, foreigners, and other non-citizens have been deported or denied entry to the US — and in one case, arrested and allegedly subjected to “brutal interrogation” by customs agents — after their phones were searched by CBP. Veterans, including members of the group that provided aid to Cuba in response to the US blockade of the island, have taken action. their phones were seized at the border.

CBP phone searches remain rare, but are increasing. The agency forecasts 55,318 mobile phones and other devices in 2025, up from 41,767 in 2023 – an increase of 32 percent.

But CAIR’s complaint states that border agents can seize a person’s property at the point of entry if they “have reasonable grounds to believe that any law established by Customs or Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been violated.” There is an exception to this rule, however: “National security concerns.”

After the killing of activist Charlie Kirk last September, Trump issued an executive order. naming “Antifa” as a terrorist groupalthough it is not a real organization. Trump also issued a presidential memo calling for “a new law enforcement system that investigates all those involved in these crimes and crimes.” Presidential adviser Stephen Miller described this as “a whole-of-government approach to ending left-wing terrorism.” By associating Kirk’s killer with the so-called “antifa terrorists” – and denigrating all his opponents as terrorists have been said – the authorities have committed themselves to torture and terrorize anyone who opposes the government.

The following January, the authorities explained strong resistance to brutal ICE raids in the Twin Cities as a coordinated conspiracy and announced that the FBI was search for Signal chats how Minnesotans track and organize against ICE. Miller called Alex Pretti, one of two people killed by DHS in Minneapolis, a “domestic criminal” and a “potential killer.”

Corcelius was one of many Minnesotans protesting ICE’s presence in the Twin Cities. In addition to his preparation, he shared news on social media about the Minneapolis City Council’s decision to encourage European organizations to withdraw from DHS contracting agencies, according to the complaint.

“These laws that try to bring terrorism into the domestic conversation are exactly what we’ve feared would happen for a long time,” John Fossum, a CAIR staff attorney representing Corcelius, said. Seaside. “The use of these types of terrorist acts allows the regime to enter into a national security system that allows them to search, seize, and attack people in ways that are not allowed by domestic law.”

Corcelius is asking the federal court to order CBP to stop any search of his phone, to destroy all the information found in their search, and to return his phone and its belongings. They are also asking the court to stop DHS from conducting routine searches of its premises in the future, and for the department to change its policy on non-routine phone searches.

Even if the court rules in Corcelius’ favor, it won’t stop CBP from targeting activists in the future. In 2024, a federal judge in New York ruled that CBP cannot search travelers’ phones without a warrant – but the ruling applies to the Eastern District of New York, which includes John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens. But in 2021, the United States appeals court ruled that CBP agents he can search passengers’ equipment without a warrant. The result is a series of laws across the country. In some jurisdictions, CBP may conduct unrestricted, but not legal, investigations. Among other things, CBP can do whatever it wants. Similarly, any decision in the Corcelius case would apply only in Minnesota.

To this day, he still hasn’t received his phone call.