Yes, it's happened to me twice, both times crossing from Canada to the US on a land border entry. There was a short period of time where the CBP was doing this in droves on Canada land border entries. The way it's generally structured is they ask permission, and if you refuse, they can't really do anything without a court order and can only hold you at most 72 hours. The time I was held up for 2 days was because they wanted to further inspect my vehicle, which I can't prevent. The only thing you really have any possible way to control is your digital devices, anything physically on your person / in your possession is open to physical inspection at a border entry point and there's no legal means to prevent it, so there's no point in even arguing. Your phone you /must/ relinquish to them, but you can refuse to unlock it if it's locked with a password. The only way to get around it is a court order, which they're not going to bother with if you're not actually suspected of anything.
Of course, YMMV, which is why I say the most important thing is realizing you could absolutely be arrested and charged for something stupid if you refuse, and should have 6-8 months of financial coverage. And of course, any non-citizen can be refused entry arbitrarily with no recourse.
FTA "(CBP) leaders have admitted to lawmakers in a briefing that its officials are adding information to a database from as many as 10,000 devices every year" this is not a rare occurrence, it's rare in the grand scheme of things because there's so many travelers in/out of the US, but it's not really that rare. If you travel internationally often enough, especially at land borders (I don't know why, but these get hassled more in my experience than airports), you will likely eventually get asked.
This demonstrates a clear lack of understanding on the rules and how ports of entry are "special"
> There was a short period of time where the CBP was doing this in droves on Canada land border entries. The way it's generally structured is they ask permission, and if you refuse, they can't really do anything without a court order and can only hold you at most 72 hours.
They can do worse, they can :
- enforce travel bans (starting at 5 years) and issue large fines.
- Failure to grant access to your digital device may result in the detention of that device under section 101 of the Customs Act, or seizure of the device under subsection 140 (1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
The Border has its own special laws, especially entering the US where it is a "constitutional free zone". The US really is an odd case as this extends 100 miles INTO the US.
> enforce travel bans (starting at 5 years) and issue large fines.
This only affects future travel and is subject to court oversight. You cannot be refused entry as a US citizen. You can however find that just on the other side of the border you'll be sitting in a detention holding cell.
> Failure to grant access to your digital device may result in the detention of that device under section 101 of the Customs Act, or seizure of the device under subsection 140 (1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Yes, they have broad powers of search and seizure for anything physically in your possession when you cross the border. You MUST physically turn over the device, you have no legal recourse. You do not have to give them the password or unlock it for them (short of a court order compelling you to do so). They can absolutely just take your phone and laptop and essentially never give it back if it's considered evidence in an ongoing investigation. In practice, they generally return them when you are released, and if they hold them longer are required to return them within 30 days if it's not part of an ongoing investigation.
If you are traveling internationally and want to protect your rights and your privacy, it's a good idea to have a lot of money so you can afford possible job loss due to detention, to pay for attorneys, and to buy new electronics if/when they are seized. This is kind of implied and somewhat explicitly said in my original comment.
Most likely random chance, but it’s possible it’s due to how many times I crossed that border. At the time I was doing contract work for a company in Canada but staying in upstate New York so was crossing the border nearly daily for several months, similar situation the second time but on the other coast.
You could say it’s random chance and the frequency of my crossings rolled the dice enough my number came up or that I was singled out due to frequent crossings being somehow suspicious, either way nothing really came of it as everything I was doing was business related and above board.
Of course, YMMV, which is why I say the most important thing is realizing you could absolutely be arrested and charged for something stupid if you refuse, and should have 6-8 months of financial coverage. And of course, any non-citizen can be refused entry arbitrarily with no recourse.
FTA "(CBP) leaders have admitted to lawmakers in a briefing that its officials are adding information to a database from as many as 10,000 devices every year" this is not a rare occurrence, it's rare in the grand scheme of things because there's so many travelers in/out of the US, but it's not really that rare. If you travel internationally often enough, especially at land borders (I don't know why, but these get hassled more in my experience than airports), you will likely eventually get asked.