An immigration advocate is suing federal border agents after CBP seized and copied his phone's contents without a warrant, highlighting the long-standing Fourth Amendment border search exemption that allows warrantless searches of electronic devices at US ports of entry.
<p>An Argentinian-American writer and immigration advocate recently sued the federal government, demanding that it delete data that he believes was copied off of his phone when he re-entered the United States earlier this month.</p>
<p>According to the seven-page <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28698536-govuscourtsflsd72461911/">complaint</a>, Thomas Kennedy said that a Customs and Border Protection agent at Miami International Airport physically searched his bags, questioned him about his books and magazines, and then demanded that he hand over his phone.</p>
<p>“[The agent] threatened me, saying that if I didn’t give him my phone, my interrogation was going to take much longer and they could retain my phone indefinitely,” Kennedy wrote. “I felt like I had no choice, so I handed my phone to the CBP agent.”</p><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/immigration-advocate-sues-border-agents-for-demanding-his-cell-phone/">Read full article</a></p>
<p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/immigration-advocate-sues-border-agents-for-demanding-his-cell-phone/#comments">Comments</a></p>
# Returning from vacation? The government can search your phone without a warrant.
Source: [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/immigration-advocate-sues-border-agents-for-demanding-his-cell-phone/](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/immigration-advocate-sues-border-agents-for-demanding-his-cell-phone/)
“I believe CBP flagged me because of my organizing and political work around immigrants’ rights in Florida,” he wrote in his court filing\. “This isn’t the first time that law enforcement targeted and harassed me because of my political viewpoint: in 2021, after speaking out against Governor \[Ron\] DeSantis, the Miami Police were surveilling me and barring me from press conferences\.”
## Border search exemption
Federal courts have[long\-recognized a “border exception”](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2008/10/aclu-23-of-us-population-lives-in-constitution-free-zone/)to the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, where people, bags, and[electronic devices can be searched](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/02/what-could-happen-if-you-refuse-to-unlock-your-phone-at-the-us-border/)without a warrant\.
Kennedy’s story is reminiscent of a 2017 incident at San Francisco Airport, where a local artist[explained to Ars](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/05/man-border-agents-threatened-to-be-dicks-take-my-phone-if-i-didnt-unlock-it/)how border agents there allegedly threatened to “be dicks” if he did not hand over his phone\.
[On its website](https://www.cbp.gov/travel/cbp-search-authority/border-search-electronic-devices), CBP states that it can copy such data “if there is probable cause to believe that the information contains evidence of a violation of law that CBP is authorized to enforce or administer” or “if the information relates to immigration, customs, or other enforcement matters\.”
CBP says that such searches of electronic devices are very rare\.
“In \[Fiscal Year\] 2025, out of the over 419 million travelers CBP processed at ports of entry, CBP only searched the electronic devices of 55,318 international travelers,” the agency wrote, or 0\.0013%\.
Still, Kennedy is angry about what happened to him\.
“CBP shouldn’t have been able to confiscate my phone, let alone copy its contents,” he wrote in the complaint\. “I believe they did so to suppress my political speech\.”
The case was first[reported](https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-immigrant-advocate-sues-federal-government-over-phone-seizure-40587572/)by the Miami New Times\.
The article reports on US Customs and Border Protection's ability to confiscate and search travelers' phones at airports, highlighting a lawsuit from an activist whose phone was seized and raising constitutional concerns about targeted surveillance.
The Second Circuit ruled that border agents may search travelers' electronic devices without suspicion, which civil liberties groups argue violates First and Fourth Amendment rights.
A Georgia man faces felony charges for using a duress password to wipe his phone during a CBP search. The article explores the legal ambiguity of warrantless device searches at US airports.
The EFF and allied organizations filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, urging the court to require warrants for both manual and forensic searches of electronic devices at the border. This legal action highlights growing concerns over privacy invasions and the increasing number of device searches conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.