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CBP Device Searches Face Court Challenges
Coverage from NCIJ Network, Newsweek, and others
U.
S. Customs and Border Protection’s authority to inspect travelers’ phones and other electronic devices is facing renewed legal and policy scrutiny. A Fourth Circuit ruling allows suspicionless manual phone searches while distinguishing them from more intrusive forensic examinations, and a January 2026 CBP directive broadens the devices and concerns covered by border-search procedures. The prosecution of Sam Tunick over a GrapheneOS-triggered phone wipe adds a separate dispute over whether privacy-protective security features can be treated as destruction of evidence.
The main change is a clearer, more concrete framing of the border-search fight: the Fourth Circuit ruling, CBP directive, and current litigation are now tied to specific device-search practices and the Tunick prosecution more directly. The story also adds a new lawsuit involving both personal and work devices, broadening the dispute beyond the prior examples.
The story has broadened from a border-search policy dispute into a more concrete set of active legal fights, especially over forensic extraction, data retention, and how encrypted or privacy-preserving phone behavior is treated in criminal cases. The addition of the Tunick prosecution and new lawsuits makes the privacy stakes more immediate and operational than before.