Saturday, July 27, 2024

Courts Close the Loophole Allowing Border Phone Search

Customs and Border Protection insists that it can search electronics without a warrant. A federal judge just said it can't.

Posted by LampLighter at 04:30 PM | 5 COMMENTS | permalink

Comments

More from the article...

... The Fourth Amendment still applies at the border, despite the feds' insistence that it doesn't.

For years, courts have ruled that the government has the right to conduct routine, warrantless searches for contraband at the border. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has taken advantage of that loophole in the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures to force travelers to hand over data from their phones and laptops.

But on Wednesday, Judge Nina Morrison in the Eastern District of New York ruled that cellphone searches are a "nonroutine" search, more akin to a strip search than scanning a suitcase or passing a traveler through a metal detector.

Although the interests of stopping contraband are "undoubtedly served when the government searches the luggage or pockets of a person crossing the border carrying objects that can only be introduced to this country by being physically moved across its borders, the extent to which those interests are served when the government searches data stored on a person's cell phone is far less clear," the judge declared. ...


#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-07-27 01:53 PM

"As part of her work for the Innocence Project, Nina Morrison had been lead or co-counsel in cases that have freed more than 30 wrongly convicted people from prison and death row."

Her Honor has admirably stepped into the shoes of the late USDJ Jack Weinstein in EDNY. President Biden made a wise nomination, further adding to his legacy.

Source:

www.nyed.uscourts.gov

#2 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2024-07-28 02:07 AM

@#1 ... But on Wednesday, Judge Nina Morrison in the Eastern District of New York ruled that cellphone searches are a "nonroutine" search, more akin to a strip search than scanning a suitcase or passing a traveler through a metal detector. ...

Given that the Customs and Border Patrol seems to be able to operate within 100 miles of a border, this is an important ruling.

What is the 100-mile border enforcement zone?
www.southernborder.org

... The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which includes the Border Patrol, is the largest law enforcement agency in the country. Their jurisdiction they claim spans 100 miles into the interior of the United States from any land or maritime border. Two-thirds of the U.S. population lives within this 100-mile border enforcement zone, including cities like Washington D.C., San Francisco CA, Chicago IL, New Orleans LA, Boston MA, & more.

Because these are considered border cities, federal border and immigration agents assert the power to board public transportation or set up interior checkpoints and stop, interrogate and search children on their way to school, parents on their way to work, and families going to doctor's appointments or the grocery store " all done without a warrant or reasonable suspicion.

How can CBP agents do this? Unlike other federal agencies, CBP officers are uniquely granted extraordinary and unprecedented powers. These extraordinary powers state that officers are able to racially profile, stop, frisk, detain, interrogate, and arrest anyone without a warrant or reasonable suspicion. The Fourth Amendment is intended to protect all people against unreasonable searches and seizures. Every other federal law enforcement agency, except CBP, requires either a warrant or "reasonable grounds" for an officer to act without a warrant. ...


[map at the link showing the 100-mile range]


#3 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-07-28 12:00 PM

#3 | Posted by LampLighter

The map is a bit wrong for 100 miles from the actual border but it's a disgrace. If it isn't wrong I don't know how it doesn't extend further in some areas. Is the map a federal mandated one? Just a for instance, the area around Lake Michigan which brings much of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and Indiana into the "zone". I have known most all of the state of Michigan was in it for years.

Regardless it is clearly aimed at the mass of population of the US. It should have been thrown out decades ago. I know it has been mostly used in the 100 miles from the southern border with Mexico but it is still an affront to the constitution. It empowers BP thugs to be above the law for 2/3rds of the population of the country.

#4 | Posted by GalaxiePete at 2024-07-28 02:41 PM

Years ago a squad of Border Patrol agents set up a roadblock over an hour's drive south of the US-Canadian border. But that major highway is also used by AMCITs not coming from Canada so they wouldn't have their passports on them to prove their US citizenship. I was able to prove my US citizenship and allowed to go, but this was invasive, time-consuming, and unconstitutional.

Good for USDJ Nina Morrison and thank you President Biden for nominating her. We need more like her on the bench.

#5 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2024-07-29 08:52 AM

Drudge Retort Headlines

Mossad Weaponizes Hezbollah Pagers and Cellphones (175 comments)

Migration to US Through Panama's Jungle Cut by 80 Percent (43 comments)

Republicans Bracing for Damaging Story on North Carolina Governor Candidate (27 comments)

Fed Cuts Interest Rate (20 comments)

Survey: Gen Z Workers Easily Offended, Unprepared (18 comments)

Yes, Trump Started the Fire. and Everyone Knows It. (16 comments)

Florida Sheriff 'perp Walks' 11-year-old After Threatening Shooting (15 comments)

Trump Lied About Pet-Eating Hatians After Told Not True (15 comments)