Petition to Congress:
Increasing numbers of U.S. citizens are being detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and pressured to give passwords to their mobile devices at the border. Support Sens. Wyden and Paul’s “Protecting Data at the Border Act” to prohibit law enforcement officers from searching our personal electronic devices at the border without a warrant.
NBC News reports show that skyrocketing numbers of U.S. citizens are being forced by border agents to give up their passwords, cell phones, and laptops to be searched at the border – all without a warrant. Refuse and you could be detained indefinitely.1
A bipartisan bill introduced by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and GOP Sen. Rand Paul would put an end to this outrage.
The “Protecting Data at the Border Act” would prohibit border agents from searching your phone or laptop unless they got a warrant first. And it would strictly forbid them from collecting American citizens’ social media passwords.2
Sign the petition to tell Congress: Pass Senator Ron Wyden and Rand Paul’s bill to ban border agents from snooping through your phone or laptop without a warrant.
The Department of Homeland Security revealed the number of these invasive searches by border agents is going through the roof in Donald Trump’s America.
In all of 2015 there were 5,000 of these searches. This year, there were 5,000 in the month of February alone.3
The Trump Administration and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly are stonewalling congressional inquiries about the program, so it’s hard to know if there is widespread racial or religious profiling at play.4
The Supreme Court agrees this outrageous. In 2014 the court ruled cellphones and laptops can’t be searched during an arrest. It’s time for Congress to protect Americans’ 4th Amendment rights at the border.5
Sign the petition: No warrant? No searching my phone or laptop at the border.
Spending time snooping through innocent Americans’ private information doesn’t even make us safer.
As Sen. Wyden says “this bill makes sure that border agents are focused on criminals and terrorists instead of wasting their time thumbing through innocent Americans’ personal photos.”
And with a bipartisan cosponsor in Rand Paul this bill has a chance even in today’s deeply divided Congress.
Sign the petition now: Tell Congress to support the “Protecting Data at the Border Act” to end warrantless border searches.
Sources:
1. NBC News, “American citizens: US border agents can search your cellphone,” March 13, 2017.
2. BuzzFeed, “New bill would outlaw warrantless phone searches at the border,” April 4, 2017.
3. The Hill, “Border agents demanded searches of US citizens’ phones: report,” March 13, 2017.
4. NPR, “More travelers are being asked for their cellphones and passwords entering U.S.,” April 11, 2017.
5. CNN, “Bill would stop warrantless border device searches of US citizens,” April 4, 2017.