EFF to Fourth Circuit: Electronic Device Searches at the Border Require a Warrant

"EFF, along with the national ACLU, the ACLU affiliates in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit urging the court to require a warrant for border searches of electronic devices under the Fourth Amendment, an argument EFF has been making in the courts and Congress for nearly a decade."

"The case, U.S. v. Belmonte Cardozo, involves a U.S. citizen whose cell phone was manually searched after he arrived at Dulles airport near Washington, D.C., following a trip to Bolivia. He had been on the government's radar prior to his international trip and had been flagged for secondary inspection. Border officers found child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his phone, and he was later arrested and criminally charged."

"The district court denied the defendant's motion to suppress the images and other data obtained from the warrantless search of his cell phone. He was ultimately convicted of child pornography and sexual exploitation of minors because he had used social media to entice minors to send him sexually explicit photos of themselves."

"In Fiscal Year 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conducted 55,318 device searches, both manual (“basic”) and forensic (“advanced”). A manual search involves a border officer tapping or mousing around a device. A forensic search involves connecting another device to the traveler’s device and using software to extract and analyze the data to create a detailed report the device owner’s"

EFF and partner organizations urged the Fourth Circuit to require warrants for border searches of electronic devices under the Fourth Amendment. The request is supported by First Amendment concerns raised by additional amici. The case involves a U.S. citizen whose cell phone was manually searched after arrival at Dulles Airport following travel to Bolivia. The phone was searched without a warrant, and child sexual abuse material was found, leading to arrest and criminal charges. The defendant was convicted after using social media to entice minors to send sexually explicit photos. The number of warrantless device searches at the border is rising, with CBP conducting 55,318 device searches in Fiscal Year 2025, including manual and forensic methods that extract and analyze data.

Read at Electronic Frontier Foundation