You your phone and Uncle Sam

This article on CBC Canada, five days ago.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/us-canada-device-searches-1.7619944

Thanks, Phred and SJ, for posting these articles. Sobering information to be aware of.

Thanks.

Most people I know aren't travelling to the US these days, but my daughter has to go for a conference next month. And we are Indigenous people with status cards, which seems to trigger issues, according to one of those articles.

A lot of workplaces here are advising people to use burner phones if they travel for work to the US.

When I travelled this summer in Europe, for the 1st time in my life, I scanned and saved every ID document I have, including my birth certificate, and every expired passport. I saved them in multiple locations, including my phone. I made photocopies and stuck them in my bag. Returning from Dublin, I went through CBC there. No questions asked, but I had worked out various scenarios in my head. Paranoia, perhaps. But then I don't look like, sound like, and have a name that doesn't 'match' 60.5% of the population of the USA.

Since my passport has my place of birth, which is not USA, my concern is not zero. I'm going to put a photo of my naturalization papers on my phone, and I am appalled that I even have to think this way.

Let's just keep things in perspective.

US courts have long recognized 4th Amendment exceptions at the border and confirmed in 1990 United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez that protections do not apply to searches and seizures by US agents of property owned by a nonresident alien. Ehem... laws differ but its much the same when I enter the UK.

It's a whole other set of rules for US citizens & residents.

CBP processes 868,000 passengers and pedestrians at land and air ports daily, of that number 263,000 are international air passengers. Approximately 75 million tourists entered the US in 2024.

Searches of mobile devices have consistently increased across multiple administrations over the last 10+ years. In 2018 it was 33.3K, 2024 was 47K.

Fiscal year 2025 has seen Q1 12,092 device searches; Q2 12,260 device searches; Q3 14,899 device searches. So far in three quarters of FY 2025 a total of 39,250, and if Q4 tracks the same, or let's say it hits 15K, we're looking at approximately 54K devise searches for FY 2025. Not an unreasonable or out of the ordinary increase.

That's potentially 54,000 +/- device searches in the FY with 868,000 daily CBP processes (300million yearly of which 75million are tourists). At 75,000,000 tourists and 54,000 searches that's .072%.

Now CBP publishes their data. Many countries do not. The UK does not, but privacy rights advocacy groups pegs UK Border Force device searches at 60,000+ while 144million people entered the UK in 2019.

https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2018-Jan/CBP-Directive-3340-049A-Border-Search-of-Electronic-Media-Compliant.pdf

It's not the increases in numbers of searches that are the worrisome part. It's what they're looking for now. Comparisons to the UK or other western countries don't really stand up. It's a different type of government in the US.

I agree with Gerry M. It's not the size, or number. It's what you do with it. And what concerns many potential international visitors is the very broad interpretation that some CBP officers have anecdotally used to either deny entry or detain and disappear innocent visitors. There is a reason why the US is the only first world country to have had a decrease in international tourism this year.

"Let's just keep things in perspective. "

That's how it's supposed to work. A lot of things are being broken that's supposed to work.

https://www.npr.org/2025/09/02/nx-s1-5525647/a-california-judge-rules-that-trumps-deployment-of-the-guard-to-la-was-illegal

[snip]
Hours after a federal court in California ruled against how President Trump used the National Guard in Los Angeles this summer, Trump touted his use of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and said he would soon send the troops into Chicago, though he did not say when.

I found this statement from the second link curious.

While electronic device searches jumped by 12.6 per cent over the past year, the total number of travellers entering the United States rose by 6.6 per cent

I thought the number of travellers was down this year.

A downturn in international travel to the U.S. may last beyond summer,
experts warn A decline in foreign visitors traveling to the United
States has stretched well into the summer ByRIO YAMAT Associated Press
September 1, 2025, 5:16 A

M

The World Travel & Tourism Council projected ahead of Memorial Day
that the U.S. would be the only country among the 184 it studied where
foreign visitor spending would fall in 2025. The finding was “a clear
indicator that the global appeal of the U.S. is slipping,” the global
industry association said.

“The world’s biggest travel and tourism economy is heading in the
wrong direction,” Julia Simpson, the council’s president and CEO,
said. "While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S.
government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign.”

Travel research firm Tourism Economics, meanwhile, predicted this
month that the U.S. would see 8.2% fewer international arrivals in
2025, an improvement from its earlier forecast of a 9.4% decline but
well below the numbers of foreign visitors to the country before the
COVID-19 pandemic.

EDITED.

CanAmCherie, I guess that could include US travelers returning because i think US travelers out of tgr US are up. Just a guess.

So the net is about s 6% increase on the number of travelers having their phones checked. The 2024 statistic was fewer than 0.01% of travelers had their phones checked, so maybe the word "fewer" is less significant now and the statistic should be stated as "about" 0.01%". Or in a worst case if I am reading it wrong and the number of srearches is up relative to the number entering, maybe "less than" 0.0125%. Not a very significant number in my mind, either way.

The search numbers, but not the entrance numbers and all the details of what they can do and how they do it, are here: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/cbp-search-authority/border-search-electronic-devices.

Why? From the CBP website:

These searches have been used to identify and combat terrorist
activity, child pornography, drug smuggling, human smuggling, bulk
cash smuggling, human trafficking, export control violations,
intellectual property rights violations and visa fraud, among other
violations.

Seems like a logical and proper mission.

For those considering a burner phone, also know that CBP can't/won't search cloud accounts. You will be requested to close the accounts and put the phone in airplane mode. So, rather than a burner, maybe put everything in the cloud.

The article that S J linked

"This article on CBC Canada, five days ago.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/us-canada-device-searches-1.7619944"

looks like it has a misprint or typo or something. The statistic about increased arrivals looks suspect in the context of the story. (I may be just misreading it though.) The uptick in searches in the most recent quarter is dramatic.

Regardless it is truly disturbing article and should give all Canadians -- I suppose everyone in the world-- some pause.

Happy travels.