France’s research minister said a French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration.
Would be helpful if we could see those messages so we can form an opinion.
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Yes, death threats and rape threats are a good reason why a visitor should not be admitted to the United States.
I told my wife before I could never go to the US because of the stuff I write online, now I’m sure of it
You’re not missing a fucking thing, buddy.
But think of the endless suburban car parks and Walmarts. Such culture.
I have to admit that ironically “Days Gone” made me fall in love with your nature.
Personally I’d like to visit the US for their national parks, or whatever is left after this administration policies.
Paving all of them over would be a huge endeavor. I hope Putins orange labrador doesn’t take is as a challenge.
Eh, I think I might be turned off visiting ever again.
These guys are handing their phones over to show work itinerary in their emails amd the immigration officers are then going through all their other emails and messages.
Never, never, never, hand your unlocked phone over to an immigration officer. Print everything you need out before hand.
If you use fingerprint or face scan to unlock your phone, they can compel you to unlock your phone.
If you use a PIN, they cannot.
Restart your android before going through customs
Yeah but he can just say “hand over your unlocked phone or I will reject your entry” and then it’s the same thing
Go to the US with a dedicated phone, just like to China.
I have a burner but it seems like you need to create social media accounts filled with non political content and keep them updated so they don’t look fake. Anyone know how to automate this?
don’t do this. it’s a waste of your time. if you’re actually scared of the us government, the answer is to stop using social media
The answer is to stop visiting the US.
Not just the US government.
The issue is border control won’t believe you don’t have any social media accounts and might refuse entry.
What if all my accounts are old and haven’t been updated in a decade? That’s kind of outrageous.
How’d they get into his phone? Face or fingerprint?
Make sure you turn off biometrics before traveling. They can’t force you to disclose a passcode.
EDIT: Actually, if you have to travel to the USA, wipe your phone before you leave.
So, what if I as an american, travel to canada. On my re-entry, am i going to get my phone searched for anti-maga stuff?
The US Government cannot deny US Citizens from entering the US.* However, they can (and mostly likely will) seize all your belongings and detain you for up to 48 hours. So its best to wipe your devices before crossing the border (both ways). They can deny permanent residents (aka: green card holders) from entry.
*for now
But my real advice is: Unless you are intending to migrate permanently, do not cross the US borders (neither in nor out) under the current administration.
They could try. They can compel you to open it with Face ID or fingerprint. If that’s turned off they cannot compel you to disclose your passcode. They can seize your phone. They cannot prevent you from entering the country.
They’re probably only going to do it with some kind of suspicion. But that suspicion could be the border protection officer is having a bad day.
Thanks. It’s fucking wild the things we have to be concerned about in this upside down timeline.
They could always do this before, it was jsut that previous administrations weren’t this insane to actually do it.
They cannot prevent you from entering the country.
Only applies to US citizens. Any non-citizen, including Permanent Residents (aka: Green Card holders), could be denied entry.
They will also ask you for your password for online accounts and refuse entry if you don’t. And as we have all seen recently that does not necessarily mean “next flight home”.
IIRC they can compel you to unlock your phone. Or just deny you entry if you don’t. It’s best to make sure you travel with a ‘clean’ phone and PC, border patrol got ridiculous powers in the patriot act and nobody’s ever rolled any of it back despite decades of abuses.
or avoid going to america
Definitely.
As a Latin American, the US is the very last county I want to visit on the entire continent. Literally the only thing that I kind of want to see there is the Lego store in NYC.
Better off going to Legoland in Denmark in that case.
I’ve been very purposefully avoiding the US ever since the Patriot Act exactly because it became possible for the TSA to riffle through your electronics (even confiscate them) and do this kind of shit.
Then on top of that festering pit of autocracy which, by the way, nobody reversed in all this time, Trump added the risk of ICE detention and “free trip to El Salvador (to go check a mega prison there)”.
Yep, 12 years of Democrats in charge and none of them did anything to reign in this whole apparatus that could easily be abused by an autocrat. Now Trump has a turnkey surveillance state that can be turned on anyone in the country. All your internet traffic, current location, licence plate readers, face recognition, etc. It was all created to alternately catch terrorists or pedophiles, and now Trump is going to use it against anyone he doesn’t like.
And it’s not like nobody was warned, there was plenty of dissent about the patriot act from experts and the people, but politicians were just like ‘don’t worry, it’ll only be used against terrorists’. Guess what, everyone’s going to be deemed a terrorist now. They’re trying to charge Luigi with terrorism already (and those are state charges in a Democratic state).
Since when did travel to the US become worse than to Russia? This is shocking…
Years ago they would already ask for social media accounts and email address on US visa forms, it was creepy back them , scary now.
How’d they get into his phone? Face or fingerprint?
I was looking for this as well. It seems like a rather important piece of info for the article to leave out.
Here’s how the borders work:
“Sir/Ma’am, please unlock your device”
“No”
“Entry Denied”
(Except for US Citizens, they cannot be denied entry* even if they refuse to unlock their device, however, their devices could be confiscated
*for now)
immigration officers at an airport searched his phone
There’s no mention in the article if this search was voluntary, or not.
Edit: For the downvoters, please point out where I was wrong; I’d honestly really like to know if it was voluntary or not.
i just downvoted because everyone else was doing it. I actually like your comment
I just upvoted because everyone else wasn’t. I actually don’t like your comment.
what a rebel
It’s “voluntary” in the sense that either you allow it or you don’t get into the country.
That’s forced. Since when was it a thing?
Since the PATRIOT Act at least, but possibly since Reagan’s Executive Order 12333.
Looks like there is also a court case from 1977 that is related.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_search_exception
Every border patrol agent within 100 miles of any US border has this authority and has for a looooong fucking time.
It’s honestly a little shocking this isn’t more well known.
Consent in a situation like this is difficult to establish, to the point of it being pointless. Your comment implies to me that you think if the person said “OK” to a search request then whatever happened next is their own fault.
Consider just the situation where you’re in the immigration line and two uniformed officers walk up to you and say, “please come with us.” If you go with them, is that voluntary? If you say “yes” I just think “voluntary” doesn’t hold much meaning. What happens if you don’t volunteer to go with them? Surely, they say, “come with us now or you’ll be arrested.” And if you don’t volunteer at that point, they’ll physically restrain you and take you away.
Since most people are able to understand the subtext of the situation, they’re able to tell that, “please come with us” actually means “you are required to come with us now. You may either walk of your own accord, or we will take you captive and punish you beyond whatever we initially intended.” So, there’s not any consent happening. Just deciding whether being beaten and dragged away in public would be helpful to you, and in many cases it is not.
You might be confusing US law around unlawful search and seizure with US law around border crossings. While the ACLU’s position is that the 4th amendment trumps CBP, CBP’s position is that it does not and that you cannot stop them.
Consent in a situation like this is difficult to establish, to the point of it being pointless.
Hard disagree.
Did they ask him if they could search and he said yes, or no? Or did they just take his device away from him and did a search without his permission?
Consenting to a search, or have one mandated by a judge’s order, is one of the fundamental pillars of citizen rights and laws in this country.
Was it a legal or illegal search? That’s not a pointless question to ask.
I notice you asked for an explanation and then only sort-of read the first sentence.
I notice you asked for an explanation and then only sort-of read the first sentence.
No, I read the whole thing, fully. I just disagreed with your analogy, thought it was a bad one, too verbose and obfuscating of the subject being talked about. Also it didn’t cover someone searching your belongings with/without your permission, the subject being talked about. Law officials have more legal leeway to detain you than they do to search your belongings without your permission, so your analogy doesn’t work (especially when you throw in beatings into it).
Also, didn’t think your last paragraph was legally accurate, but didn’t want to bother arguing the point, since ‘amendment > law > policy/rule’ is a well-known given. I’m aware of the difference. When I asked my original question, it was to confirm if the border enforcement people were actually honoring the 4th amendment, or not, whatever their thought processes were.
I did appreciate you taking the time to reply (and civilly at that) though, thank you. P.S. I hope the tone of my reply wasn’t too harsh, it wasn’t meant to be rude, just straightforward.
WTF is a voluntary search?
“Attention all flight passengers. This is ICE on the speaker. If you want to be searched, please raise your hand and we will get to you shortly.”
I wonder how they search it. I doubt they manually read every fucking text message in all apps, so I guess they search for keywords or something.
So, let’s say someone wanted to get someone in trouble, they could write them an email with some “incriminating” white text on white background and have them stopped by the thought police at the border.
It would be funny if they stopped some Canadian Mexican returning from Cancun and found shittalk about Trump on his phone.
Btw. Does anyone have Ted Cruz’s email address?
I have no proof, this is anecdotal, but I suspect they used a forensic analysis tool like Cellebrite, GreyKey, or Magnet Axiom to extract all the device data and search it, which makes it a cakewalk to filter for keywords, images, files, and the like. cops use this shit all the time, as do their terrorist friends all around the world.
This is dark. They aren’t bothering to hide what’s going on anymore.
Usually I respect the honesty more than the subterfuge.
But when it’s Nazi’s. Nope. Wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire.
You respect the honesty because it reveals people’s character. And if a person thinks that Taylor Swift is an awful singer, then cool, you can agree or disagree.
But when it’s honesty about contempt for your fellow man? A punch in the face is the only thing that works.
One thing authoritarian systems have in common is a permanent atmosphere of fear. Honesty is highly unwanted there, integrity will get you straight into trouble. Fascist systems are built on hypocrisy and fear.
All countries should advise their citizens against travelling to the USA. Edit: fixed typo.
It should be common sense.
Honestly, dude probably dodged a bullet. Stay away from our shit hole country
Funny that the US has become more like Russia since Trump was elected.
Who would have thought. (Literally everyone)
What? A scientist who is critical of Trump?? How can that be???
or one that contradicts him, aka fauci.
Republicans are really mad that reality has a left wing bias
How strange that all the people who think don’t like Trump?
Studies have consistwntly shown that the more education one gets, the more their political view skews left. It explains why colleges, staffed and managed by PhDs, tend to be left-wing. That’s why the Conservative Propaganda Machine has to constantly attack education.
Dictators hate intellectuals.
I don’t even have to name any specific one, its a trend across all dictatorships.
Amazing to think that they criticised “freedom of speech” in Europe
Freedom for me but not for thee
The Nazis literally did this with a law. They made it illegal to be critical of the party. Fuck the alarm, we’ve already been had.
Yup. “But we’re not there yet”, so they say. “Too soon to act rashly”.
'First they started mass deportations, but it wasn’t a corrupt system yet, so we did not act.
Then they started refusing people who were critical of them, but it wasn’t a corrupt system yet, so we did not act.
Then they started blatantly taking money from the poor and give it to the rich, but it wasn’t a corrupt system yet, so we did not act.
Finally they fully took over the nation, but by then all the people who would have acted were already gone and dealt with.’
Not all, but the gist of it. Thankfully some bubbles of resistance are starting to form in the US, but the main people who were elected to uphold the law and fight this democraticly are already bribed or blackmailed, so it’s in great part up to the people, and whatever stance the army ends up taking when they are forced to choose between loyalty to the constitution, or an individual.
the scientists were smart enough to flee Germany or places that nazis occupied. i see this going to happen with USa if not already, US already has a problem with shortages in some areas of stem. its a complex set of problems all around, this latest fiasco just adds into it.
Might as well start wearing red triangles now🔻
Please don’t say “Nazis”. Like, which Nazis, the 1940s German ones or 2025 American ones? It’s confusing. Please be clear next time you talk about them.
Nazis are Nazis, the rest is semantics.
Yeah, but when you say “The Nazis literally did this with a law” it’s not entirely clear if you mean the German Nazis from the 1940s or the American Nazis from the 2020s
Why does that matter? They’re both Nazis.
It’s important to distinguish the two. One was 85 years ago, the other is today… there might be other differences but can’t think of any right now.
Nazis are Nazis. Ask the people in that El Salvadoran prison if the boots forcing their necks down look like 40s or 2020s Nazis. Their agony is your answer.
The US has turned in Russia for real. Russians were checking phones at the border when the war started.
Wow, ok. You, guys (Americans), are royally fucked over there. Yet another reason not to visit the US ever.
usa was always “Russia”. The difference is usa have a massive propaganda apparatus to make us think you are the goodies and who are the baddies
Well it was limited to " the browns" before.
So people these days still not understand that border crossing are a sensitive location?
Like, literally, anywhere you go, the first thing you should do before leaving is encrypt and reinstall / factory reset (which should delete all encryption keys to the old data) the devices. And if you have very sensitive stuff, use a disk overwrite program, and for phones start recording a video with the phone aimed at like a wall (and turn off the audio recording). Leave it recording overnight and it should fill up your phone. Use 4K recording to fill the storage faster. Then just wipe the phone again. Now, DONT DOWNLOAD ANYTHING THAT COULD BE CONSIDERED SENSITIVE. Load the phone with innocuous things like pet photos, nature, etc… and act like a “normie”. Don’t have anything critical of any politician, especially not of the country you’re visiting, nor of its allies. Its best to not have any social media apps, preferrably, you should never post things under your name, but if you already did have such accounts, delete them.
If they ask you “Do you have any social media accounts” you say “I don’t recall having any” or “I don’t think so” and “I’m not the type of person to use social media”. Or alternatively, you can have a social media account that have only non-political posts, and show then that.
Edit: To be clear, don’t travel to the US. But this should be how you prepare for border crossings, even if it isn’t the US.
This is completely unnecessary if you travel to a western democracy, like an EU country, Canada, Australia, etc. America is no longer part of that group though, sadly.
I think Europeans, coming from a sane place where border crossings are more of a formality than anything else, don’t expect a plane to the US to be a time machine/teleporter to East Berlin.
This might be normal opsec for a foreign agent, but absolutely ridiculous to expect average people or some French doctor to adhere to.
The reality is this issue would never have happened just three months ago, and the reason it’s happening now is fascism.
The laws haven’t changed. This didn’t start three months ago.
Phone searches: not new. People being rejected at the border because of posts critical of the incoming president, yes, that is very much a new thing.
Would love to see some stories of people rejected at the border for criticism of Biden or Obama if you can find any.
People already worried then. There was no need for the law to grand this power. We don’t need laws if wo rely on people to be just.
