CBP data<\/a> shows such searches are rare; last year, just over 47,000 out of 420 million international travelers had their devices examined. And despite more frequent reports of these encounters, this year\u2019s figures show no significant increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cAnecdotally, it seems like these searches have been increasing, and I think the reason why that\u2019s true is, undoubtedly, I think they are more targeted than before,\u201d said Tom McBrien, counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt seems like they are targeting people who they just don\u2019t generally like politically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Travelers who are concerned about their privacy should consider minimizing the amount of data they carry, McBrien said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe less data you have on you, the less there is to search, and the less there is to collect,\u201d he said. Beyond using a secondary device, he suggested securely deleting data, moving it to a hard drive or storing it in a password-protected cloud account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson rejected claims that CBP had stepped up device searches under the new administration or singled out travelers over their political views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese searches are conducted to detect digital contraband, terrorism-related content, and information relevant to visitor admissibility, all of which play a critical role in national security,\u201d the spokesperson told the Guardian in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAllegations that political beliefs trigger inspections or removals are baseless and irresponsible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement acknowledged, however, that there had been heightened vetting under Trump and the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnder the leadership of the Trump Administration and Secretary Noem, we have the most secure border in American history,\u201d it said. \u201cThis has allowed CBP to focus to actually vet and interview the people attempting to come into our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alistair Kitchen, the Australian writer who was denied entry to the US in June, said the DHS\u2019s denial of political targeting directly contradicts what he was told on arrival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Border officials \u201cbragged actively that the reason for my targeting, for my being pulled out of line for my detainment, was explicitly because of what I\u2019d written online about the protests at Columbia University\u201d, he told the Guardian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While he doesn\u2019t plan to return to the US under the Trump administration, Kitchen said that if he ever did, he would either not take a phone or bring a burner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnder no conditions would I ever hand over the passcode to that phone,\u201d he added. \u201cI would accept immediate deportation rather than hand over the passcode. People should think seriously before booking travel, especially if they are journalists or writers or activists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Various foreign nationals told the Guardian they are rethinking travel plans for tourism, family visits, academic events and work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donald Rothwell, a professor who teaches international law at the Australian National University, says he no longer plans to accept speaking invitations to the US over fears of being detained or denied entry \u2013 which, he noted, could also trigger red flags on his record for future travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s even considered traveling without a device at all, but is concerned his academic commentary in the media could be used against him regardless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI might be commenting on matters that could be quite critical of the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cFor example, I was very critical of the legal or lack of legal justification for the US military strikes on Iran in June.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kate, a Canadian whose name has been withheld due to privacy concerns, said she has wrestled with complicated decisions about whether to travel across the border to see American relatives, including for an upcoming wedding. During a trip earlier this year, she deleted her social media apps before going through customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite DHS assurances that travelers are not flagged for political beliefs, she said \u201cit\u2019s hard to believe things that this government is saying\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt would be really nice to have trust that those kinds of things were true, and that these kinds of stories that you hear, while absolutely horrific, are isolated incidents,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut I do feel like in many ways, the United States has sort of lost its goodwill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
theguardian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Horror stories about detainments at the border have also soured some from visiting during Trump\u2019s second term Keith Serry was set to bring a show to New York City\u2019s Fringe festival this year, but pulled the plug a few weeks out. After 35 years of traveling to the United States, he says he no longer feels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":46567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1152],"tags":[34462,1483,1230],"class_list":["post-46566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanrights","tag-burner","tag-he","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46566"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46569,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46566\/revisions\/46569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}