How to Secure Your Phone When Re-Entering the Country

These days, you could face extra scrutiny at the border when returning to the United States after a trip to another country.

Border agents may inspect your phone, laptop or other digital devices, and they could retain the electronics and/or the data within it — even if you’re an American citizen. The measures are legal and don’t require a warrant.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have previously been able to inspect your devices to, among other security concerns, determine “an individual’s intentions” upon entering the U.S. and to potentially “combat terrorist activity.”

In reality, the number of travelers who’ve been subjected to these searches has been miniscule. In fiscal 2024, it was less than 0.01 percent, according to the agency.

That’s about 47,000 international travelers out of the 420 million processed at U.S. ports of entry. Media reports suggest that such searches are on the rise under Trump administration policies.

“It’s important to note that I do think there’s been an uptick,” says Tom McBrien, counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) advocacy group in Washington. “I do think that uptake is targeted at people who have a higher chance of being politically active, of just being within this administration’s crosshairs, whether it’s because of their last name, or their skin color or their national origin or whatever. …

“I don’t think it’s a guarantee that you’re going to have your device searched at the border,” he says. “But it’s an increased risk.”

More older adults expect to travel abroad this year

In late 2024, 44 percent of nearly 2,000 U.S. adults 50 and older planned to take at least one personal trip out of the country in 2025, up from 37 percent last year, according to an AARP survey released in March. Half said the travel would be a “bucket list trip.”

Ted Chiaparri a New York-based partner at Duane Morris and head of the legal firm’s immigration law group, thinks the chances that your device will be searched as you return remain small.

“It would be surprising to me that an individual would get stopped just because they made an offhand comment critical of President Trump,” he says.

Two types of searches can happen

The CBP conducts two types of searches: A basic search generally involves an officer examining the contents of your device manually without the use of any special tech gear.