U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers searched the cell phones of nearly 25,000 travelers entering or leaving the U.S. in 2016, including phones belonging to naturalized citizens and people born and raised in America. "[The travelers] traveled by plane and by car at different times through different states," NBC News writes. "Businessmen, couples, senior citizens, and families with young kids, questioned, searched, and detained for hours when they tried to enter or leave the U.S. None were on terror watchlists. One had a speeding ticket. Some were asked about their religion and their ethnic origins, and had the validity of their U.S. citizenship questioned."
In February 2017 alone, agents searched 5,000 phones; CBP agents searched fewer than 5,000 phones in all of 2015. "That [increase] was clearly a conscious strategy, that's not happenstance," said Mary Ellen Callahan, the former chief privacy officer of the Department of Homeland Security, calling the skyrocketing searches "shocking."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Supreme Court to resolve Louisiana gerrymanderSpeed Read The court will hear a case challenging the second majority-Black district in the state
-
Boeing machinists approve contract, end strikeSpeed Read The company's largest union approved the new contract offer, ending a seven-week strike
-
America might be in a second Gilded AgeIn the Spotlight The first Gilded Age was marked by rising inequality and a push for social change
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
