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No one should have to travel in fear

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Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#91

Although it is difficult to do so, maintaining your calm when faced by intimidation by government agents generally works out. Andreas did exactly the right thing - followed his gut calmly then, filed a case in the courts later.

When did he file a case? It's not mentioned in the blog.

March 28, according to the complaint

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm an American and I have been detained and searched by CBP without actually ever leaving the country. They didn't ask my name, just that we needed to get out of the car while they let their dog search the car.

You don't have to get out of the car. CBP only have power to stop you to ascertain the citizenship of the passengers. They need reasonable suspicion to further detain you, or probable cause to search you or your car. You can consent to the search, but you don't need to. If you refuse consent and they lack probable cause, the evidence would be suppressed. For more details: https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/i…

He claimed their dog indicated on our car... but that's a bunch of BS because the dog was already sitting next to them when we pulled up and didn't do anything further(exactly the same thing the dog did for the car in front of us).

He then tried to get us to say we had personal use amounts of drugs on us and he was only looking for massive amounts of narcotics(the "amount cartels have" according to him).

I was with a friend who was not a US citizen but is here legally on a work visa, they took his documents and left me alone while the dog ran through the truck.

And to be honest, do you really think I'm going to put up a fight when I haven't seen a shower in days and have a 7hr drive ahead of me?

We obviously fit a profile of sorts because the first words out of his mouth when we pulled up were to pull to the side because his dog indicated on us and he needed to search our car.

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this something we need to petition congress to fix? Do CBP agents have the right to search the electronic devices of US citizens without a search warrant or not? IIRC, if you're a citizen, they have the power to seize your devices (and anything else you have, for that matter) and temporarily delay/detain you, but not to force you to unlock anything. They can't deny you entry. If you're not a citizen, then they c…

Indeed, they can not "force" you to unlock the device, however they can deny you entry to the country unless you open the device (although it seems this has not been thoroughly tested in the courts).

The ACLU of Northern California says they cannot deny you entry.

https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/know-your-r...

U.S. Citizens: You only have to answer questions establishing your identity and citizenship (in addition to customs-related questions). Refusal to answer other questions may cause delay, but officials may not deny you entry into the U.S. if you have established your identity and citizenship.

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#94
post #74
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Global Entry gets you two things: a faster line when you re-enter the US, and membership in TSA Pre-Check. For me, Pre-Check is far more useful, because most of my travel is domestic (and it also helps you on the outbound portion of international travel).

Precheck alone is $15 cheaper.

Or to put it another way, Global Entry is only $15 if you're already buying PreCheck.

Global Entry paid for itself the first time I used it when I made a connection after going through customs that I definitely would have missed if I had to wait in the regular line.

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#95
This is becoming too common. Laura Poitras has documented her harassment as have multiple others activists and journalists. The idea of opaque no fly and other secret lists, secret processes and demanding to go through people's personal papers is totalitarian.

If this happened in China or for instance Venezuela there is instant global outrage about 'freedom' and yet every time the exact same thing happens in the UK or the US the outrage is quickly replaced by legalese and apologism. Surely if people cared so much about any of these values they would severely push back when it happens in their own backyard but we rarely see that, just more demonizing others which quickly loses meaning and becomes complicit in the descent to a quasi police state.

Many who make sweeping statement about 'democracy' and 'freedom' seem to be severely disconnected from things on the ground as those those who use these 'freedoms' in any serious way in terms of actual activism or critical journalism however slight end up on some kind of list and singled out for harassment. [1]

[1] https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/03/25/the-tsas-role-as-jou...

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#96
post #28

> The customs agents did however keep my Global Entry card as a punishment ????? You never need your global entry card at airport customs because your flight information is encoded to your passport, which the machine scans. Was that supposed to be punishment? Why did he even have it? Does the Global Entry number still work and automatically give you TSA Pre on the new tickets you purchase?

I'd assume that they also revoked Global Entry, which they can do arbitrarily and I'd be surprised if "you didn't comply with our arbitrary demands" wasn't explicitly listed as one of the specific examples of reasons for revoking it.

> I'd assume that they also revoked Global Entry

instead of assuming can we get an answer? OP? ACLU? The author mentioned he has taken flights since then, he should be able to answer if he still gets TSA Pre, nobody's asked yet

its just as likely that they literally only took the card from him.

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#97
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd assume that they also revoked Global Entry, which they can do arbitrarily and I'd be surprised if "you didn't comply with our arbitrary demands" wasn't explicitly listed as one of the specific examples of reasons for revoking it.

> I'd assume that they also revoked Global Entry instead of assuming can we get an answer? OP? ACLU? The author mentioned he has taken flights since then, he should be able to answer if he still gets TSA Pre, nobody's asked yet its just as likely that they literally only took the card from him.

They found the card with my passport. They took the card, and a few days later my status was revoked as well.

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#98
This needs to be challenged to the Supreme Court level whereby it is deemed unconstitutional for TSA agents to detain and seize people and their possessions without actual demonstrable cause relating to national security and/or the spirit of the law(s) governing their policies and procedure.

If overly broad legislation is being abused against the spirit and intention of it, then the court needs to step in to legally to rule that this cannot be done, so long as such finding is in line with the constitution.

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#99
post #35

> The agents proceeded to search my belongings and demanded that I unlock my smartphone and laptop. This was rather concerning for me. My phone and laptop are property of my employer and contain unreleased software and proprietary information. I’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement promising not to give anyone access. His employer is Apple. I was always worried about this same scenario when traveling with an Apple-ow…

if his employer is apple then he is fine to unlock. all such employers require you to follow border agent instructions. that said he may be in violation of a policy not to travel with proprietary info

> that said he may be in violation of a policy not to travel with proprietary info

Most employees have some sort of approval to do this.

Re: No one should have to travel in fear

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is in that spirit that I have filed a civil rights complaint with the help of the ACLU against CBP for unlawfully detaining me and violating my constitutional rights.

Found the link someone else posted: https://www.aclunc.org/news/aclu-files-complaint-department-...

It's a OCRCL complaint: https://www.dhs.gov/office-civil-rights-and-civil-liberties
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