| The trial court judge's take on the motion to suppress: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.55... It's a tough call. On one hand, the feds were really reaching by singling out the defendant for inspection based on: 1) a vague notion that South America is a higher risk of CSAM and sex trafficking (the government's CBP witness couldn't even say that that background CSAM rate in the countries the defendant had traveled from was higher than in Virginia, the state of the defendant's port of entry), and 2) a vague FinCEN report that there was some unspecified payment activity between the suspect and an account or accounts believed to be of underage individuals. On the other hand, the defendant consented to the initial search after being read a miranda warning and signing a waiver, and did in fact have a pattern of catfishing victims to get them to send CSAM. He also had banned coca products (doesn't sound like cocaine, probably just coca leaves or something) that they were citing him for. The feds or any LE should need some reasonable suspicion of a particular crime before investigating them for that crime, though. I don't think they had that. I think the judge was lazy in concluding that the search was justified, and they wanted to leave it to appellate courts to exclude evidence if it meant letting the defendant go. Is the current state of the law really that anyone who within the last few years ever transferred any money to a minor, and happens to be coming from anywhere country outside the 1st world, is subject to an inspection and initial cursory search of digital devices for anything illegal? I find that difficult to believe, and appalling if true, regardless of any crimes that were uncovered. |
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| ▲ | rayiner 42 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | That's incorrect, or at best misleadingly incomplete. 8 USC §1357(a) authorizes border agents to, "(3) within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States, to board and search for aliens any vessel within the territorial waters of the United States and any railway car, aircraft, conveyance, or vehicle, and within a distance of twenty-five miles from any such external boundary to have access to private lands, but not dwellings, for the purpose of patrolling the border to prevent the illegal entry of aliens into the United States." The associated regulations, 8 C.F.R. §287.1, interpret "reasonable distance" to mean up to 100 miles from the actual border. But: "In fixing distances not exceeding 100 air miles pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section, chief patrol agents and special agents in charge shall take into consideration topography, confluence of arteries of transportation leading from external boundaries, density of population, possible inconvenience to the traveling public, types of conveyances used, and reliable information as to movements of persons effecting illegal entry into the United States." The statute and regulation just mean that agents don't need to patrol the border at the literal border--which in some cases runs through the middle of bodies of water. But they must justify the determinations of what's a "reasonable distance" from the border must be based on what's needed to prevent illegal entry into the United States, based on factors such as topography and transportation routes. | |
| ▲ | tptacek 22 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | There's Supreme Court precedent establishing that this isn't the case. ACLU itself had backed off it, last I checked, but since they used it for a very long time in fundraising, people will never, ever stop believing that 80% of the United States lives in a "Constitution-free zone". You cannot in fact be border-searched on the streets of Chicago; in fact, you can't even be border-searched at a lawful fixed immigration checkpoint. Border searches need a nexus to an actual border crossing. | |
| ▲ | cvoss 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | I'm reading the statute this comes from [0] and its associated definitions [1] but I don't see that it's as bad as you made it sound. (I don't love it, still.) The 100 mile "reasonable distance" is used to define where vessels and vehicles may be searched for aliens. But the warrantless search may only be applied to persons seeking admission for whom an officer has suspicion of reasonable cause for denying the person entry. Of the 80% of people living within that distance (which is an upper bound, btw; the agents in charge are required to set a bound not to exceed that by taking into account such things as "density of population, possible inconvenience to the traveling public.") almost none can be suspected of being under reasonable cause for denial of entry. So to do the thing you are fearing, 1) the chief patrol agent has to set the distance to encompass an inappropriately large area in violation of this law, 2) an agent has to stop and search cars randomly, and 3) somehow become suspicious that an occupant is seeking entry and ought to be denied entry, and 4) believe that searching that person's device would reveal information demonstrating that the suspicion is correct. It's not great, but it's not "80% of Americans can have their devices searched without a warrant". [0] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1357 [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/287.1 | | |
| ▲ | ceejayoz 3 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Border_Patrol_in... > The U.S. Border Patrol has stated: "Although motorists are not legally required to answer the questions 'Are you a U.S. citizen, and where are you headed?' they will not be allowed to proceed until the inspecting agent is satisfied that the occupants of vehicles traveling through the checkpoint are legally present in the U.S." I'm not convinced "the law says you can't do that" is super meaningful in 2026. | |
| ▲ | willis936 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The truth is law enforcement is not simply a white glove application of the law. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vica_-UEg0Q | |
| ▲ | Hizonner 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | > 1) the chief patrol agent has to set the distance to encompass an inappropriately large area in violation of this law, Certain to happen. > 2) an agent has to stop and search cars randomly, Not at all. "Based on my training and experience, Mexicans drive Subarus. Your driving a Subaru gives me a reasonable suspicion to conduct a non-random stop on you.". Yes, it gets very close to that stupid, and a lot of times they even believe stuff like that. Even if they don't believe it, they know the lie isn't falsifiable. A system that lets random officers get away with unreviewed searches is a problem even if they do have to commit perjury to take advantage of it. Because they will. > 3) somehow become suspicious that an occupant is seeking entry and ought to be denied entry, Well, yeah, they're sitting right there in the freaking Subaru. Boom. Reasonable suspicion. > 4) believe that searching that person's device would reveal information demonstrating that the suspicion is correct. Well, if the suspicion were correct, it probably would. And if the suspicion is incorrect, even if the suspicion is a deliberate bullshit lie, anything they do find becomes fair game. Sorry, no. Probable cause. And independent judicial review on your probable cause. Not trivial legitimization of totall bullshit suspicions. | |
| ▲ | superkuh 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Yeah, the law interpreted by a reasonable person isn't the end of the world. But that's not how the DHS's ICE or CBP interpret it or how they operate. And now they're even using their probably illegal interpretation (via internal secret memos) outside of the 100 mile zone. |
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| ▲ | tintor 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Including 100 miles from international airports? | | |
| ▲ | dgoldstein0 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | I think it's land and sea borders. Which would encompass all large coastal cities, the gulf coast and much of Texas/new Mexico /Arizona / socal due to proximity to Mexican border + Chicago/Michigan/etc due to proximity to Canadian border | | |
| ▲ | ssl-3 20 minutes ago | parent | next [-] | | AFAICT, the line is 100 miles from the border as defined as "the edge of the US," not as defined as "100 miles from a foreign country." This line[1] encompasses places even as far inland as Columbus, Ohio, and Columbus, Georgia, which are good examples of being perhaps least border-feeling, non-coastal cities that I've ever spent time in. I wouldn't blame anyone for having never visited the grand metropolis of Fort Wayne, Indiana, but that's within 100 miles of the line, too. Lots of other unlikely cities are this way are this way as well. [1]: Here's a map on ArcGIS. I only found it; I did not have any part in creating it: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=f43e... | |
| ▲ | esseph 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | International airports are a border and fall under CBP. So do "vessels", busses that may move between countries, etc. > Employees traveling internationally on behalf of an organization must take steps to protect sensitive, confidential, or proprietary data carried on electronic devices. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has broad authority to inspect electronic devices—regardless of citizenship—at U.S. airports, land borders, seaports, and preclearance facilities abroad. https://www.potomaclaw.com/news-Border-Search-Inspection-of-... It's extremely complicated: https://cdt.org/insights/no-warrants-and-half-a-dozen-differ... |
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