In some instances, government agents can search your digital devices legally after an international trip
These days, you could face extra scrutiny at the border when returning to the United States after a trip to another country.
Border agents may inspect your phone, laptop or other digital devices, and they could retain the electronics and/or the data within it — even if you’re an American citizen. The measures are legal and don’t require a warrant.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have previously been able to inspect your devices to, among other security concerns, determine “an individual’s intentions” upon entering the U.S. and to potentially “combat terrorist activity.”
In reality, the number of travelers who’ve been subjected to these searches has been miniscule. In fiscal 2024, it was less than 0.01 percent, according to the agency.
That’s about 47,000 international travelers out of the 420 million processed at U.S. ports of entry. Media reports suggest that such searches are on the rise under Trump administration policies.
“It’s important to note that I do think there’s been an uptick,” says Tom McBrien, counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) advocacy group in Washington. “I do think that uptake is targeted at people who have a higher chance of being politically active, of just being within this administration’s crosshairs, whether it’s because of their last name, or their skin color or their national origin or whatever. …
“I don’t think it’s a guarantee that you’re going to have your device searched at the border,” he says. “But it’s an increased risk.”
More older adults expect to travel abroad this year
In late 2024, 44 percent of nearly 2,000 U.S. adults 50 and older planned to take at least one personal trip out of the country in 2025, up from 37 percent last year, according to an AARP survey released in March. Half said the travel would be a “bucket list trip.”
Ted Chiaparri a New York-based partner at Duane Morris and head of the legal firm’s immigration law group, thinks the chances that your device will be searched as you return remain small.
“It would be surprising to me that an individual would get stopped just because they made an offhand comment critical of President Trump,” he says.
Two types of searches can happen
The CBP conducts two types of searches: A basic search generally involves an officer examining the contents of your device manually without the use of any special tech gear.
As the name hints, an advanced search goes further and in theory would occur when officers have a “reasonable suspicion” that you’re a national security risk. Under this type of search, an officer can connect your phone or computer to external equipment to “review, copy and/or analyze its contents.”
What you can do to minimize any encounters.
1. Get familiar with your rights
You’re not expected to become a legal expert, but you do have rights. For example, the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution puts pretty strict boundaries on what law enforcement is able to do, McBrien says.
“A lot of those boundaries fall down,” he says. “And essentially the rules are largely determined by the courts,” which can vary by jurisdiction.
McBrien recommends learning about the area you’re flying or driving into as you return to the U.S. and trying to evaluate the legal and political climate. Of course, if you have to travel somewhere, it’s unlikely you’ll dramatically alter the route because of politics.
2. Turn off your device
Because of a wrinkle in constitutional law, an agent can’t force you to type in your password or PIN to unlock the device, McBrien says. But nothing technically stops an agent from pressuring you to unlock the device with a thumbprint or face scan.
If you turn off your phone before going through security, the only way to get past the lock screen when powering it up is by entering a password. That potentially makes it more difficult for the agent.
Meanwhile, if your phone doesn’t already have a passcode, consider adding one before you travel.
3. Just say no
As a U.S. citizen, you have the right to say, “No” if a border agent asks you to unlock your device. Moreover, as a citizen you cannot legally be banned from entering the country under such circumstances, a right not afforded to noncitizens.
4. Be aware: Agents can retain your devices
While border agents can’t bar you from entering, they can seize your device and, with cause, hold it for an indeterminate length of time. What’s more, the CBP can retain copies of information obtained during a search and hold it for up to 15 years.
“Weighing the relative advantages, do you want to have them seize the device and you’d be without a phone?” Chiappari asks. “Or do you want to just let them look at it, appease them and they won’t find anything that will cause them to arrest you or keep you at the airport for many hours?”
5. Cleanse your phone before you travel
If you’re worried about your privacy or the prospect that something could be misinterpreted, remove the potentially damaging content before leaving the country. You can curate social media and wipe away other revealing communications and restore it from a backup later.
“If there’s a really sensitive conversation happening, delete it before you cross the border,” McBrien says.
6. Travel with a secondary phone
You also can travel with an inexpensive and relatively anonymous secondary device or burner phone, one without your contacts, photos and revealing texts. But be aware that having a device with barely any content on it could raise alarm bells.
That said, many people have perfectly plausible reasons why they’re traveling internationally with a phone with only a few basic apps and not much else. You could be on a business trip and have proprietary or client data that your employer dictates must stay in the U.S.
Regardless of the steps you take, “If you show up and [border agents] think you’re suspicious … whether you’ve got it encrypted or locked, if you’re a person of interest they’re going to take your phone,” Chiappari says. “And then they’ll figure out a way to get it unlocked.”
But most of us are not people of interest, he says. Most people can sleep well at night, breathe easily and not really have to worry about a border search of their electronic devices.
