Border agents accused of unconstitutionally searching, seizing travelers' computers

[n2doc]

By Hugo Martín, Los Angeles Times
September 13, 2010

Anyone who has traveled abroad with a laptop or other electronic device might cringe to hear about the criminal defense attorney who had the contents of her computer searched by border agents after flying into Houston from Mexico.

And then there is the freelance photographer who was stopped at the U.S. border with Canada where officials scanned through his laptop files.

Perhaps the most unnerving tale is that of the graduate student who was riding a train from Montreal to New York when border guards confiscated his laptop and external hard drive for 11 days.

The three Americans are cited in a lawsuit filed last week by the ACLU, the National Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers and others against the Homeland Security Department. The lawsuit alleges that border agents seize and search the electronic devices of international travelers without establishing suspicion of wrongdoing, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.


Homeland Security Department spokesman Matthew Chandler declined to comment on the lawsuit.

more

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-travel-briefcase-20100913,0,7803428.story

[Pab Sungenis]

1. I'd like them to win, but don't see how they can.

Your constitutional protections don't follow you outside the territory of the United States. And that includes border crossings and customs areas.

[Sinistrous]

2. Damn. I hope you are wrong about the border crossing part

of your statement. Especially when we are talking about the actions of a government agency which supposedly (to betray my naivte) is operating under the Constitution. But then, the Fourth Amendment has been pretty much shredded by a slew of court decisions.

[Romulox]

4. A border agent searched my car w/o probable cause when crossing back into the US a week ago

from Windsor, Ontario to Detroit crossing the tunnel. She also searched 3 or 4 cars in the line in front of me. She was looking for customs cheats smuggling duty free smokes or whiskey, as near as I could tell (don't myself drink or smoke, so I sat in bemusement.) She didn't even look twice at a backpack full of expensive camera equipment; she was looking for cartons of smokes--no warrant, no probable cause, either way. It was a customs-cheat check point, of sorts. :shrug:

[msanthrope]

6. Government doesn't need PC to search your car at a border crossing.

Border crossings are separate and pretty well-defined area of law where the 4th Amendment is severely truncated, by necessity.

Your car, too, is not afforded the same privacy status as your home, or personal baggage.

Basicially, the US executive branch has always vigorously defended its perogatve to control the borders, and Congress and SCOTUS have backed that up.

[Romulox]

16. Indeed, which is why I offered the story. nt

[msanthrope]

7. Eh--you still have SOME constitutional protections.....

But I agree with you that the ACLU has a difficult fight here. I don't see how they win over the perogatives normally given to "Customs" as to search and seizure. We aren't talking about detaining people, but things, and so I think the federal court would defer greatly to the Border authorities.

[hobbit709]

3. The only thing on my laptop would be

a gigantic file saying FUCK YOU GESTAPO! over and over for about 10 gigabytes.
Any data would have been uploaded from where I was and downloaded from there when I get home-that would include any photos I took.

[n2doc]

8. The fact is, if someone wanted to bring in "bad stuff" it is easy

a micro sdhc card is so small you can put it in your wallet and no one is the wiser. 32 gigs.

[Marr]

5. Most people here don't seem to realize how out of line our "security" is.

Go into most other countries and they're more like public servants. Here they seem like intrusive bullies more often than not. I can't stand the process of coming back into the country.

[msanthrope]

9. Um, I've traveled extensively, and I think Border/Customs agents are the same the world over.

Not talking about the TSA flunkies at the airport metal dectectors....

I'm talking about the people who run actual Customs and Border Checkpoints.


The most intrusive I ever came across were French agents who went through my stuff with a fine-toothed comb after they saw an 'Israel' exit stamp on my passport...but no entry stamp. Fun, fun...

[Marr]

10. Well, so have I, and I disagree.

[formercia]

12. I got the same thing in London

Traveling from Islamabad with no entry or exit stamp. I had a Diplomatic passport, but they didn't care.

They had a fun time pawing through my dirty laundry.

[msanthrope]

13. Mine was just one stamp placed on top of another....

I tried to point it out, but I pissed off the French agents, apparently, for insinuating that one of their agents had stupidly covered over the Israeli entry stamp with the French one...

Well, that, and the medical books Iwas bringing back. A relative had died in France, and I was attempting to bring back his collection of 19th and 18th century medical books. That was a joy. n/t

[grace0418]

11. Really? I've been through a few easy customs experiences (including some in the U.S.)

but the majority of the time the experience has been similar for me the world over.

[starroute]

14. But this is not just at the borders -- it extends to the 100-mile zone

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/10/aclu-assails-10/

October 22, 2008

Government agents should not have the right to stop and question Americans anywhere without suspicion within 100 miles of the border, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday, pointing attention to the little known power of the federal government to set up immigration checkpoints far from the nation’s border lines.

The government has long been able to search people entering and exiting the country without need to say why, which is known as the border search exception of the Fourth Amendment.

After 9/11, Congress gave the Department of Homeland Security the right to use some of its powers deeper within the country, and now DHS has set up at least 33 internal checkpoints where they stop people, question them and ask them to prove citizenship, according to the ACLU. . . .

The ACLU says it has scores of complaints from citizens and wants Congress to investigate and roll back the buffer zone. According to a map the rights group released Wednesday, some 190 million citizens live within what the ACLU dubs the "Constitution-free Zone."

[Javaman]

15. "Excuse me, Fraulein. Do you have your hard drive?"nt