Remix.run Logo
weberer 3 hours ago

Anybody crossing the border. The justification is that the government's constitutional right to control imports overrides the 4th amendment right to privacy.

>“The border-search exception is grounded in the recognized right of the sovereign to control, subject to substantive limitations imposed by the Constitution, who and what may enter the country.” Id. at 620. Because “[t]he Government’s interest in preventing the entry of unwanted persons and effects is at its zenith at the international border,” United States v. Flores-Montano, 541 U.S. 149, 152 (2004), “searches made at the border, pursuant to the long-standing right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border,” Ramsey, 431 U.S. at 616.

https://ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/OPN/24-960_complete_o...

howdyhowdy 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Worse though, is that the definition of border is hella loose. CBP can be many MANY miles away from an actual border and do this.

mingus88 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

100 miles to be clear. So many major cities are free reign. Entire counties.

https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone

jwineinger 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

from https://www.help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1253?language=en_...

> Immigration Officers, without a warrant, may "within a reasonable distance from any external boundary of the United States...board and search for non-citizens in any vessel within the territorial waters of the United States and any railcar, aircraft, conveyance, or vehicle. 8 CFR 287 (a)(1) defines reasonable distance as 100 air miles from the border.

from https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/border-zone

> Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population, over 213 million people, reside within the region that CBP considers falling within the 100-mile border zone, according to the 2020 census. Most of the 10 largest cities in the U.S., such as New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, fall in this region. Some states, like Florida, lie entirely within this border band so their entire populations are impacted.

AnimalMuppet an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Even worse: The Trump administration claimed international airports as part of the border. (I saw that once, months ago. I do not know what the legal state of that claim is, or even whether it is currently part of their theory of what they are allowed to do.)

krunck 5 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I can't find any definitive information on this. Disturbing if true.

r3trohack3r 16 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Setting the “100 mile” thingamajig aside - why wouldn’t you consider an international airport part of your border? It is a port of entry.

samus 6 minutes ago | parent [-]

[delayed]

petcat 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

So the argument is basically that Americans already consent to allowing customs to search anything and everything that they are physically bringing across the border, whether a US citizen or not, and now that is also affirmed to include the digital contents of electronic devices.