TBH, this is better than being questioned by ICE, after which you'd be detained without due process, regardless of the answers you gave and regardless of your citizenship.
The US isn't safe right now. Stop traveling here until further notice.
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2025
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Yes, I guess it's better than you landing in the United States and a few days later, ICE flies you to El Savador.
Even before Trump 1.0 I heard that border control can search your phones/devices on entry. It says so in the article, too: ‘It’s well within their rights to search your phone.’ That in itself sounds horrifying and unethical to me. What if I refuse? What if my device is switched off and requires a password?
I'm not surprised that this is getting much worse now.
the Department of Homeland Security emphatically denied to Extra.ie that US immigration officials at Dublin airport are checking the mobile phones of travellers to the US for anti-Trump content.
‘Any claims of politically motivated searches are completely unfounded.’
Sure, buddy.
They are within rights to search any electronic device at the border. For the purposes of this, the border is counted as any point in the US within 190 miles of a port of entry or border line.
95% of Canada's population is within the US molestation zone.
190 miles, huh? So some small East coast states are basically all border?
I wonder if the Dublin airport also counts as US border, according to Homeland Security.
It’s worse than that.. nearly 2/3 of the total population is under border jurisdiction. But it’s 100 miles, not nearly double that..
Thanks for rectifying.
All of Florida! And New York & New Jersey if I'm not mistaken. And plenty of those small states up there.
USA really are a police state despite having shockingly bad police.
May I ask since when this has been the law?
According to this link (idk how accurate it is, and it’s from 2018), it’s been in place for over 75 years. It’s affectionately referred to as the “constitution-free zone”.
Are international airports in as well? If so, then this map needs to be sprinkled with 200 mile wide dots. And I'm fucked.
If you travel outside the US, take a cheap phone and use a sim local to the country you're visiting. That makes the search irrelevant and eliminates some issues of traveling with your phone, like outrageous bills.
Yet another reason not to visit the US until such a time as the Mango Mussolini is hanging upside down from the roof of a gas station like his namesake.