{"id":859,"date":"2026-07-28T17:14:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=859"},"modified":"2026-07-28T17:14:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T17:14:06","slug":"border-battle-when-wiping-your-own-phone-is-a-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=859","title":{"rendered":"Border Battle: When Wiping Your Own Phone Is a Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>Away from headlines about inflation or the Iran war, a federal courtroom in Georgia has quietly become ground zero for what could be a far-reaching legal fight over federal border searches and the rights of American citizens to resist them.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=857\">Lindsey Graham\u2019s Funeral: What\u2019s the Schedule? Who Will Attend?<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>At the center of the tussle is Samuel Tunick, an activist from Atlanta. Tunick was coming home after a vacation in the Dominican Republic. At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents demanded his cellphone and the code to unlock it, on the pretext of searching for child sexual abuse material.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>But Tunick\u2019s device was running GrapheneOS, an Android-based operating system that includes a \u201cduress\u201d code that wipes a phone\u2019s digital contents and restores factory settings. When the agents entered the PIN he provided, things decidedly did not go as they had hoped.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The result: Tunick faces federal  under a little-used <u>statute<\/u> that makes it a criminal offense to destroy property to prevent its seizure.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h2><b>Your Rights at the Border<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The case, filed in late 2025, could have ramifications for your rights at the border \u2013 even as an American citizen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>CBP claims nearly boundless authority to search people coming into the country, without a warrant, probable cause or individual suspicion. \u201cAll travelers are obligated to present their electronic devices and the information resident on the device in a condition that allows for the examination of the device and its contents,\u201d the agency says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The courts have recognized a \u201c<u>border search exception<\/u>\u201d to the Fourth Amendment, which forbids unreasonable searches and seizures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Thanks to privacy rights <u>litigation<\/u> from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU, we know the government divides searches into \u201cbasic\u201d \u2013 a manual search that the agency says it can do without a warrant or suspicion \u2013 and \u201cadvanced,\u201d in which agents use external equipment, requiring reasonable suspicion of illegal activity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>CBP <u>says<\/u> such searches are rare: In fiscal year 2025, less than 0.1% of arriving international travelers at a port of entry had their electronic devices searched.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>But that\u2019s small comfort to the unlucky few who\u2019ve been searched. Think of the trove of personal data on your phone: your contacts, your recent calls, your photos, your browser search history, your social media, your conversations via encrypted apps and much more.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=855\">France Braces for Fourth Major Heatwave as Crews Tackle Bordeaux Blaze<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>While U.S. citizens cannot be denied entry merely for refusing to turn over passcodes, some immigration attorneys <u>warn<\/u> that doing so can result in processing delays and having the device in question confiscated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<h2><b>So What Can You Do?<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>If all of this has you feeling a bit helpless, fret not. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the aforementioned attorneys have <u>advice<\/u>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2><b>The Legal Team Hits Back<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Tunick\u2019s lawyers <u>argue<\/u> that the demand to search his phone was invalid because it violated his constitutional rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cEvidence obtained from Mr. Tunick\u2019s phone \u2013 or lack thereof \u2013 should be suppressed as fruits of unlawfully obtained evidence,\u201d they argue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>They also claim Tunick was being investigated for his participation in the \u201cDefend the Atlanta Forest\u201d movement \u2013 also known as \u201cStop Cop City\u201d \u2013 meant to derail the construction of a police training facility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The child sex material claim was \u201ca pretext for a fishing expedition into Mr. Tunick\u2019s connections with the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement,\u201d his lawyers contend.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<h2><b>The Ramifications<\/b><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The courts could rule in Tunick\u2019s favor, which would be a major Fourth Amendment victory and a blow to the existing legal framework for border searches of electronic devices. Or they could side with the government, effectively making it illegal to install or use forensic search countermeasures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>And that would leave us with the irony of Americans losing some constitutional rights when entering the country.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=853\">Way Cleared for Pop Singer D4vd to Stand Trial on Murder, Mutilation Charges<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A court case in Georgia could determine how much power border agents have to search U.S. citizens and their devices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[136,5,259,260,201,8],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-news-decision-points","tag-customs-and-border-protection","tag-donald-trump","tag-immigration","tag-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-privacy","tag-sign-in-to-manage-your-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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