Bowling Green Today

U.S. Senators Rand Paul, Gary Peters, Ron Wyden, and Mike Crapo have jointly written a letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expressing their concerns about the use of border search authority on electronic devices. The senators are seeking information on the data retained from these searches, how it is stored, and who has access to it.

In the letter, the senators highlighted the broad authority asserted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the border search exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. They emphasized the need to understand how CBP and ICE utilize their authority to search, download content from, and access sensitive information on individuals’ phones, laptops, and other electronic devices without a warrant.

The senators raised concerns that the current policies and practices governing electronic device searches at the border may deviate from the intended scope of border search authority. They pointed out that the searches of electronic devices, which contain vast amounts of private information, present a significantly different circumstance compared to the search of luggage or vehicles at the border.

The senators expressed their worries about the potential collection of large amounts of personal data during these searches and requested information on how collected data is stored, shared, and used by other law enforcement agencies. They also sought clarification on the practice of other agencies providing tips or recommendations to CBP and ICE that lead to these searches.

The letter to Secretary Mayorkas outlined specific requests for information, including details on border search authority, secondary inspection data requests, data storage and retention, access to data, requests for assistance, and evaluating effectiveness and protections.

The senators concluded the letter by thanking Secretary Mayorkas for his prompt attention to the matter and requested a briefing for their staffs on the outlined points within the next two weeks. The full text of the letter is available on the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs website.