Travel Rights, Regulations and Restrictions
Return to the U.S. from Travel Abroad: Rights and Regulations
Upon your re-entry to the States, the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel, regardless of your status as an American citizen, a green card holder or a visa holder, can stop you or take you to secondary inspection.
The Fourth Amendment, which protects people from searches and seizures without probable cause of a crime being committed, does not apply at border crossings. CBP does not need “probable cause and reasonable suspicion” to search your luggage or your person.
According to CBP, your electronic devices are also searchable. Sometimes this is triggered because a traveler has incomplete travel documents or because their name matches a person of interest. It also could be a random search.
However, the CBP has limits on the type of information they can obtain through your mobile phone. While CBP officers can search through data stored internally on a cell phone (e.g. text messages), authorities cannot search for items kept on an external server, such as those used by Google or Amazon.
Although Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ travelers can refuse to allow CBP to inspect the information stored physically on the phone, federal authorities have the right to confiscate the device if an individual does not comply with their lawful demands.
For more information, see these articles from and .