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Warrants Required for Traveling Americans' Passwords Under 'Protecting Data at the Border Act'

The bill arrives at a time when electronics searches at the country's airports and borders are becoming more common.

(TNS) -- WASHINGTON — A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, including Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, introduced a bill on Tuesday that would make it harder for Border Patrol agents to demand that American citizens unlock cellphones and computers and hand over social media passwords when traveling back into the country.

Right now, Customs and Border Protection agents are able to search U.S. citizens’ cellphones and other digital devices when those citizens cross back into the country and do not need a warrant to do so. But if the “Protecting Data at the Border Act” passes, law enforcement agents would need a warrant for those searches except in emergency circumstances.

“Just because you cross the border doesn’t mean the government has a right to everything on your computer,” Farenthold said in a statement.

Rep. Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado who sponsored the bill with Farenthold, said he firmly agreed.

“It’s rather outrageous that so many American travelers have been subjected to this kind of treatment,” he told The Dallas Morning News.

The bill arrives at a time when electronics searches at the country's airports and borders are becoming more common. According to an NBC report, Customs and Border Protection conducted more than 23,000 electronic searches in 2016, a more than 400 percent increase over the previous year.

In February of this year alone, Border Patrol agents conducted more than 5,000 searches. Some of those searches were of cellphones belonging to American citizens, though the Department of Homeland Security has not provided information on how frequently American citizens are targeted.

President Donald Trump’s administration has made increased scrutiny of travelers a top priority, though he hasn’t commented on electronic searches of American citizens specifically. Last year, he addressed electronic searches of noncitizens, saying that he wanted Border Patrol agents to prevent people with “bad thoughts” from getting in the country.

A Homeland Security spokesman said the agency does not comment on pending legislation.

Polis said he recognized that it’s important that law enforcement officials be able to do their jobs — but he emphasized that Americans still have privacy rights that need to be protected.

“I’m sure there are people that want to search houses without warrants, too,” Polis said. “But in this country, for American citizens, we establish a balance between privacy and law enforcement. That’s why we have the Fourth Amendment.”

In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures, also protected citizens from having their cellphones searched without a warrant. But Border Patrol agents have more freedom than other law enforcement officers, and the ruling did not extend to them.

The proposed bill would also require Border Patrol agents to make sure the U.S. citizens they screen are fully aware that they have the right to say “no” when asked to unlock cellphones and laptops and to share social media passwords.

Ensuring that travelers know they have a right to privacy would be a major victory for Nikiya Natale, the civil rights director for the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“It’s very clear to me how little the average American knows about their rights at the airport,” Natale said. “The No. 1 question I get asked here is: ‘I’m traveling, and I’m scared. What do I do if they ask for my cellphone?’ ”

Natale noted recent stories of Muslim travelers forced to hand over their passwords and cellphones to Border Patrol agents, even though the travelers were American citizens.

“Some Muslim American travelers are right now kind of terrified of traveling internationally,” she said. “Why would you subject yourself to that kind of invasion of privacy?”

The bill was also introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Ron Paul, R-Ky. Both senators often emphasize privacy rights in legislation.

©2017 The Dallas Morning News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.