Phones, privacy, and ports of entry: No warrant may be no problem

In June 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers denied a Norwegian tourist entry into the United States. According to the traveler, CBP officers demanded access to his cell phone and expressed concern over a meme depicting U.S. Vice President JD Vance with a bald head. One officer reportedly described the image as “very clearly a piece of extremist propaganda.” CBP, however, stated that the meme played no role in the denial, instead citing the traveler’s admitted drug use as the basis.

Regardless of what occurred in this specific case, the incident underscores ongoing legal ambiguity around the scope and limits of border searches—particularly of electronic devices. If you have employees who are traveling internationally in the coming weeks and months—regardless of whether it’s for business or personal reasons—here’s an important issue you should consider.

What counts as a search—and what requires suspicion?

Under federal law, CBP has broad authority to “inspect, search or detain” any person or property entering or exiting the United States. At the border, the Fourth Amendment’s usual requirements—such as a warrant or probable cause—are significantly relaxed under what’s known as the “border search exception.” As the U.S. Supreme Court observed, searches at the border are deemed reasonable simply because they occur at the border. Accordingly, CBP distinguishes between two types of electronic device searches: basic and advanced.