Canada updates travel advice to warn of U.S. border officers' power to search electronic devices

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 04, 2025 9:31 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

The national authorities has softly updated its online question proposal to punctual Canadians to "expect scrutiny" from borderline patrol officers if they question to the United States.

A website with authoritative proposal for travellers heading southbound was updated with a paragraph astir the "significant" discretion officers person erstwhile it comes to deciding who enters their state — including the powerfulness to hunt phones and laptops.

"U.S. authorities strictly enforce introduction requirements. Expect scrutiny astatine ports of entry, including of physics devices. Comply and beryllium forthcoming successful each interactions with borderline authorities. If you are denied entry, you could beryllium detained portion awaiting deportation," the website present reads.

Agents with U.S. Border Patrol person agelong had the powerfulness to inquire to hunt travellers' belongings, but the Canadian authorities updated its online guidance to see the other informing this week — a alteration that comes arsenic the nations' long-friendly narration breaks down nether the unit of the Trump administration's warfare connected trade.

An migration lawyer and a privateness lawyer said travellers who are acrophobic astir their privateness should recognize borderline patrol officers' powers and determine however overmuch hazard they're comfy taking earlier they permission home. Two of the experts suggested travelling with a burner telephone and leaving their existent phones astatine home.

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Heather Segal, an migration lawyer and founding spouse of Segal Immigration Law successful Toronto, told CBC News on Monday that her inbox is flooded with questions.

"There's been overmuch much heightened information and heightened investigations astatine the border," she said. "There is conscionable tremendous fear, fearfulness for galore reasons. First of all, there's fearfulness of getting detained. There's fearfulness of not getting into the United States."

No warrant needed

Away from the border, instrumentality enforcement officials request a hunt warrant to look done someone's telephone oregon laptop. But U.S. Border Patrol officers tin look done a mobile phone, cheque comments made connected societal media and examine a laptop without a warrant. They tin besides instrumentality devices oregon download each of their contents.

"For galore people, the telephone is simply a model into the soul. It's got your letters to your spouse, it's got your calendar showing each the radical you've met with. And truthful for galore people, they mightiness privation to instrumentality precautions to support that accusation secure," said Adam Schwartz, privateness litigation manager astatine the Electronic Frontier Foundation, based successful San Francisco.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistic amusement 0.1 per cent of radical crossing the borderline had their physics devices searched successful 2024. Sometimes, Schwartz said, agents volition inquire for a hunt based connected their gut — which tin beryllium done either explicit oregon implicit bias, starring to discrimination.

WATCH | What should Canadian travellers bash if they're stopped astatine the U.S. border?:

"When volition the borderline defender take to hunt somebody? It could beryllium nary reason. It could beryllium that they've been searched before. It could beryllium that the serviceman thinks there's thing suspicious. Unfortunately, successful general, the serviceman does not request immoderate benignant of suspicion successful bid to marque the ask," said Schwartz, whose non-partisan enactment focuses on defending civilian liberties with integer material.

Border guards are expected to beryllium scanning for grounds that a traveller mightiness perpetrate a transgression successful the U.S. oregon interruption the presumption of their introduction visa, but antagonistic statements astir the state oregon its president mightiness marque them look harder.

"What they should beryllium scanning for is grounds that idiosyncratic is going to perpetrate a transgression oregon interruption the presumption of their introduction visa. But erstwhile the serviceman is noodling astir wrong the phone, you cognize that there's a hazard they're going to spell beyond that. And arsenic you say, they mightiness conscionable beryllium looking astatine idiosyncratic who says, 'I americium aggravated astatine the president of the United States' oregon 'I'm arrogant to beryllium Canadian and it makes maine huffy that the United States has conscionable imposed tariffs connected america oregon immoderate it is," Schwartz said.

"They should beryllium not looking for those kinds of opinions, but if they find those kinds of opinions, possibly they'll look adjacent harder for imaginable grounds of instrumentality breaking oregon visa breaking."

Schwartz said you can garbage a search, but officers tin contradict you introduction to the U.S. They could besides prehend the telephone and effort to unlock it themselves oregon detain the traveller for respective hours.

The Canadian government's existent hazard standing for question to the U.S. is inactive acceptable astatine low, advising Canadians to support taking "normal information precautions." 

WATCH | Canadian pistillate describes 11 days successful ICE custody:

Segal and Schwartz acknowledged however galore radical are feeling uneasy. The second said travellers person to determine however overmuch hazard they're comfy taking.

"For a idiosyncratic who wants to support themselves, obviously, the choices are to not spell to the borderline astatine each oregon spell to the borderline and anticipation for the best. If the borderline defender demands the phone, determination are pros and cons of unlocking. There's pros and cons of refusing and perchance being bounced," helium said.

"What radical person to determine earlier they get to the borderline is however overmuch privateness intrusion they tin tolerate."