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- Aug 20, 2006
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If you are a traveler who is re-entering the country, you basically have no right to privacy. For instance, the Department of Homeland Security can seize your phone without a warrant—or motive. Federal policy dictates that “patrol agents have sweeping powers to search a person -- even without ‘reasonable suspicion’ of any crime.”
"They grilled me for an hour," she wrote. "I answered jovially, because I've had enough high-level security experiences to know that being annoyed or hostile will work against you." Abi-Habib said that the agents then asked for her cellphones in order to "collect information." "That is where I drew the line," Abi-Habib wrote. "I told her I had First Amendment rights as a journalist she couldn't violate and I was protected under." According to Abi-Habib, the agent then presented a DHS document that read that the government has the right to confiscate phones within 100 miles from U.S. borders.
"They grilled me for an hour," she wrote. "I answered jovially, because I've had enough high-level security experiences to know that being annoyed or hostile will work against you." Abi-Habib said that the agents then asked for her cellphones in order to "collect information." "That is where I drew the line," Abi-Habib wrote. "I told her I had First Amendment rights as a journalist she couldn't violate and I was protected under." According to Abi-Habib, the agent then presented a DHS document that read that the government has the right to confiscate phones within 100 miles from U.S. borders.