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[–] 115 points 9 months ago (19 children)

We don't know the exact circumstances, but CBP stands for Customs and Border Protection.

I've heard of Customs agents demanding people let them search phones without a warrant and without probable cause, and so foreigners can be refused entry. We probably all heard the story of it happening for a person who had a meme of JD Vance on his phone.

But the article says that this guy is based out of Atlanta, so I'm guessing he's a US citizen. I'm not sure they can refuse entry to a US citizen based on this.

Either way, you should never give permission to anybody to search your phone. Maybe you've broken a law that you didn't know was a law, and you've just handed the evidence over to the police. Or maybe you have evidence that can convict somebody else who didn't know they broke a law.

I don't know what this means for people crossing the US border. Now is a bad time to enter the United States.

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  • [–] 67 points 9 months ago (15 children)

    Legally, they cannot refuse entry to a US Citizen. Legally.

    But just because someone is based in the US doesn't mean they're a citizen. And they don't need any justification to search someone, because airports and land within 100 miles of a border is a "constitution-free zone" (but not 100 miles from an airport, contrary to popular belief).

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  • [–] 28 points 9 months ago (12 children)

    Lmao so now we're saying all of Southern California south of Newport Beach (85 mi from Tijuana) is a place where the constitution does not apply? New York west of Rochester? (80 mi from Niagara) Pretty much all of Alaska's tail thingy next to Canada? 😂

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago

    This town is 40mi south of the Canadian border, and you will hear people speaking other languages in public as long as you aren't in one of the racist bars. Unfortunately, I lived there for a while, and the CBP are constantly waddling into gas stations and shops hoping to relive the glory of making international headlines. (they just arrested someone from the UK, so that strategy must be working)

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/montana-us-border-patrol-spanish-women-lawsuit-b1762886.html

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago*

    Not us, SCOTUS said it.

    CBP; ACLU Maine; ACLU

    They have to "develop probable cause" to do more than check your ID but we've seen how easy that is over the years. At the end of the day they will make up the probable cause if they need to. But even more importantly this is the authority they're using to have Border Patrol conduct military style patrols in our cities.

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  • [–] -1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Its far worse than that. Anywhere that is within 80 miles of an international airport, they claim, is also inside their jurisdiction.

    "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) jurisdiction at airports covers all international arrivals/departures as designated ports of entry, plus a 100-mile zone inland from borders and coasts for immigration/customs enforcement, meaning they can operate at large international airports like DEN or DFW and even domestic ones if near borders, stopping, questioning, and searching individuals/belongings for admissibility and contraband, though searches need consent or probable cause for internal searches, notes the ACLU. "

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago

    airports and land within 100 miles of a border is a "constitution-free zone"

    This isn't accurate. That's where CBP has jurisdiction to operate, but they're still bound by the constitution (for now),

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  • [–] 29 points 9 months ago

    you should never give permission to anybody to search your phone

    Not only does your phone have access to all your social media accounts, email, text, phone logs, but it's also commonly used as a security device (multi factor authentication) to sign in to other accounts like your bank account, work login, etc. If you allow someone into your phone they can possibly access your work resources and that could be an even bigger problem.

    Do not let anyone have access to your phone.

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