Mayor Anthony R. Silva was on his way back from a mayor's conference in
China when the DHS border guards confiscated his laptop and phones and
detained him, telling him he would not be allowed to leave until he gave
them his passwords. He has still not had his devices returned.The mayor says that DHS officers told him that border confiscations of devices were common.
The DHS will not acknowledge whether an investigation is underway, and will not confirm that they have the mayor's property.
The DHS first disclosed its policy on laptop searches at the border in
2008, which amounted to "we can take your laptop, or anything else, for
no reason at all, forever, and disclose anything we find to anyone we
feel like feel like."
This sparked fierce debate, calls for Congressional hearings and a
lawsuit (as well as some self-help measures) at the time, but the DHS
has not budged on its policy.
In 2013, the 9th Circuit ruled that suspicionless laptop searches at the
border were illegal, but a New York federal judge ruled for the DHS
later that year.
Border laptop searches are used by law enforcement to avoid the need to
get warrants for other investigations; law enforcement agencies
coordinate with border agents to identify people whose data they'd like
to steal, but against whom there is not enough evidence for a warrant.
When those targets cross the border, the DHS steals their devices,
ghosts their drives, and turns the data over to local law-enforcement.
Journalists are especially targeted using this method.
“We can't control what the mayor or his representatives say ... but that
won't dictate what we do or don't release to the media,” Schwab said.
“Our priority is assuring the integrity of the investigative process and
generally speaking we don't acknowledge that an investigation is
underway ... unless or until charges are filed, arrests are made, or
documents are publicly filed with the court that confirm a probe is
taking place.”
For his part, Silva said he’s “happy to cooperate and comply with these
inspection procedures if they are in fact routine and legal.”
Silva, however, raised several concerns with the incident.
“I think the American people should be extremely concerned about their
personal rights and privacy,” he said. “As I was being searched at the
airport, there was a Latino couple to my left, and an Asian couple to my
right also being aggressively searched. I briefly had to remind myself
that this was not North Korea or Nazi Germany. This is the land of the
Free.”
Silva went on to say that he is “confident that any forensic search of
my personal devices will never ever show illegal or inappropriate
activities of any sort.”
