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Border agents copy and store information from cell phones and computers of thousands of travelers in a database

2022-09-15T21:03:26.048Z


Contact lists, call logs, images and messages of thousands of people are kept each year in a file to which immigration authorities have access.


The Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP, in English) has created a database with information obtained from phones, computers and other electronic devices of thousands of travelers (up to 10,000 a year) at airports, seaports and border crossings, according to The Washington Post newspaper revealed.

The agents download contact lists, call logs, messages and even photos from cell phones and computers, without a court order, and store them in a file to which about 2,700 members of this federal agency have access, according to the aforementioned newspaper.

This revelation, hitherto unknown, was shared by CBP authorities in a summer meeting with congressmen.

The database, known as the Automated Targeting System, is fed, according to the newspaper, by the electronic devices of travelers who, in most cases, are not suspected of having committed any crime.

And the information is kept for at least 15 years.

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Ron Wyden, Democratic senator from Oregon, was the one who revealed the details of the database on Thursday in a letter addressed to Chris Magnus, commissioner of the CBP, in which he criticized the agency for "allowing the

indiscriminate theft

of private records of the Americans."

The CBP defends the inspection of travelers' electronic devices as a "low-impact" measure to determine the "intentions" of those who arrive in the country and detect possible security threats.

But the fact that thousands of agents have access to the database without public oversight worries congressmen, and could violate the

Fourth Amendment

of the Constitution, which protects against abusive searches and seizures.

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Faiza Patel, director of the Liberty and Homeland Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, told the newspaper that CBP could not only collect information on potential "bad guys," but could target its investigations based on skin color or in the religion of travelers.

Lawrence Payne, a CBP spokesman, said in a statement Thursday that electronic inspections are done in accordance with rules to ensure "judgment, accountability, and consistency with public trust."

He added that the devices of people who are of concern are reviewed, without clarifying in any case the reasons why they are considered so.

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CBP defends itself]

CBP also did not clarify how many phone records are in the database, how many searches have been done, and how long this information has been collected.

According to agency data, in a 12-month period ending in October 2021, CBP conducted some

37,000 searches on travelers' devices

.

It is unknown how many of those devices had information uploaded to the database.

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Border authorities have the power to search people's devices without a warrant or suspicion that the person has committed a crime.

CBP has relied on this exception to collect the data on the base.

Any traveler who refuses to unlock their phone for this process can have their phone confiscated for up to five days.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2022-09-15

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