In mid to late August, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued two new directives, CBP Directive No. 3340-049 – “Border Search of Electronic Devices Containing Information” and ICE Directive No. 7-6.1 – “Border Searches of Electronic Devices”, that apply to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), respectively, as reported by the Federal Computer Week and other publications.
They specify the circumstances under which laptop computers and other electronic media can be searched at the border by border and immigration agents.
Please be aware that an officer, subject to various requirements and limitations, may, “with or without individualized suspicion,” examine the electronic device and “review and analyze” the information.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) considers the new rules to be a good first step but cautions that “the new standards fail to address the fundamental constitutional problems of suspicionless searches that have been occurring at the border.”
Two of the improvements found in the new policies are that a limit has been set on the time that CBP officers can retain the laptop computers and electronic devices they are searching, and that now probable cause is required for the agency to be allowed to keep information gathered from the aforementioned laptops and devices.
