ACLU of Maryland, EFF Ask 4th Circuit To Strengthen 4th Amendment Protections in Border Inspections
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed amicus briefs with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in U.S. v. Saboonchi. The ACLU and EFF will urge the 4th Circuit to rule government agents…
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must obtain a warrant before searching cellphones, computers and other personal electronic devices at the border. In the case, an Iranian-American U.S. citizen returning from vacation at Niagara Falls, Ontario, had his cellphones and a flash drive taken by law enforcement and searched. Law enforcement charged Saboonchi with violating export control laws after reviewing information on his devices. But the groups argued law enforcement should never have had access to that information. “Because forensic and forensic-like searches of smartphones, laptops, and other mobile electronic devices seized at the border infringe deeply on privacy interests, such searches should only be permitted pursuant to a warrant, or at a minimum upon a determination of probable cause or reasonable suspicion,” the ACLU of Maryland said in its amicus brief. “Information stored on these devices can be deeply sensitive and private, including personal correspondence, family photos, medical records, intimate relationship details, proprietary business information, and more.” The 4th Circuit should “clarify the Fourth Amendment standards governing such searches in order to provide guidance to the government and the traveling public,” the group said. EFF Staff Attorney Sophia Cope said that many individuals traveling either back into or to the U.S. for vacation or business trips can have their emails, texts, photos, videos and voicemails “rifled through and retained, without a warrant or any suspicion that a crime has been committed.” Pointing to the Supreme Court’s decision in Riley v. California last year, which found that police need a warrant to search devices they find on people they arrest, Cope said the “same standard should apply when border agents want to search devices we carry with us while traveling.” There is an exception to Fourth Amendment protections at the border to allow for U.S. border patrol agents to enforce immigration and customs laws, EFF said. Agents can check a traveler’s passport and immigration documents, and search luggage for physical contraband like drugs or other items subject to import duties, EFF said. But the border search exception shouldn't be used as a loophole by law enforcement to “obtain troves of personal information without a warrant,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Hanni Fakhoury.