What happens when your phone is confiscated at the airport
What happens when your phone is confiscated at the airport
当你的手机在机场被没收时会发生什么
One woman had her phone taken by CBP and is now suing to get it back. 一位女性的手机被美国海关及边境保卫局（CBP）没收，目前她正提起诉讼以求追回。
Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, it’s never a good idea to hand your phone to the cops. But international travelers at American airports often have no choice — even if they’re US citizens. 即使你没有做错任何事，把手机交给警察也绝非明智之举。但在美国机场的国际旅客往往别无选择——即便他们是美国公民。
When Minnesota labor organizer Janette Zahia Corcelius returned home from a three-week trip to Europe in late April, she was detained and questioned by customs agents at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Before they let her go, the agents searched her luggage twice, confiscated political literature she had purchased abroad, and seized her phone — which has yet to be returned, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Minnesota. 当明尼苏达州的劳工组织者珍妮特·扎希亚·科塞利乌斯（Janette Zahia Corcelius）在四月下旬结束为期三周的欧洲之行回国时，她在明尼阿波利斯-圣保罗国际机场被海关人员扣留并审问。根据向明尼苏达州联邦法院提交的诉状，在放行之前，特工搜查了她的行李两次，没收了她在国外购买的政治文献，并扣押了她的手机——至今尚未归还。
Is it constitutional for Customs and Border Protection to take your phone? And to keep it? The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which sued the government on Corcelius’ behalf, doesn’t think so. The civil rights group claims she’s being targeted for her opposition to the ICE raids in Minneapolis. The suit Corcelius filed against the Department of Homeland Security alleges that the confiscation of her phone violates the Fourth Amendment, as well as CBP’s own regulations regarding searches and seizures. 美国海关及边境保卫局（CBP）扣押你的手机是否符合宪法？扣留它又是否合法？代表科塞利乌斯起诉政府的美国伊斯兰关系委员会（CAIR）认为并不合法。该民权组织声称，她是因为反对明尼阿波利斯的移民及海关执法局（ICE）突袭行动而成为被针对的目标。科塞利乌斯针对国土安全部提起的诉讼称，没收其手机的行为违反了美国宪法第四修正案，也违反了CBP自身关于搜查和扣押的规定。
But the problem goes beyond one phone search. CAIR argues that CBP is conducting “systematic” searches of activists’ devices, using the language and tools of counterterrorism to target left-wing critics and activists, in keeping with President Donald Trump’s efforts to go after those he calls “Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists.” 但问题不仅仅在于一次手机搜查。CAIR认为，CBP正在对活动人士的设备进行“系统性”搜查，利用反恐的语言和工具来针对左翼批评者和活动人士，这与唐纳德·特朗普总统试图打击他所谓的“包括无政府主义者和反法西斯主义者在内的暴力左翼极端分子”的努力相一致。
According to the complaint, Corcelius called her attorney after being pulled aside for questioning. She handed her phone to CBP’s manager on duty so they could talk to her attorney. Then she was told her phone was being confiscated. Her other property was searched by both CBP agents and agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that focuses on international crime, drug trafficking, and national security threats. 根据诉状，科塞利乌斯在被带走审问后给她的律师打了电话。她将手机交给当值的CBP经理，以便他们与她的律师通话。随后，她被告知手机将被没收。她的其他财物则同时遭到了CBP特工和国土安全调查局（HSI）特工的搜查，后者是移民及海关执法局（ICE）下属的一个部门，专注于国际犯罪、毒品走私和国家安全威胁。
CBP can conduct two types of searches of people’s phones and other devices at the border: basic inspections, in which they can only look at what’s on the phone while it’s in airplane mode, and advanced forensic searches, in which they hook up the phone to an external device that allows them to go through and potentially copy its contents. American citizens can’t be kept from reentering the United States even if they decline a phone search, but their phone may be seized — and if agents manage to unlock it, either manually, with their biometrics, or with tools made by companies like the Israel-based Cellebrite, which can unlock and extract data from phones, its contents can also be searched. CBP did not respond to The Verge’s request for comment in time for publication. CBP在边境可以对人们的手机和其他设备进行两种类型的搜查：基础检查（仅能在手机处于飞行模式下查看内容）和高级取证搜查（将手机连接到外部设备，从而浏览并可能复制其内容）。即使美国公民拒绝手机搜查，他们也不会被禁止入境，但手机可能会被扣押——如果特工设法通过手动、生物识别或使用以色列Cellebrite公司等制造的工具（可解锁并提取手机数据）解锁了手机，其内容也可以被搜查。截至发稿时，CBP未回应《The Verge》的置评请求。
Since Trump’s return to office, immigrants, tourists, and other noncitizens have been deported from or denied entry to the US — and in one instance, detained and allegedly “violently interrogated” by customs agents — after having their phones searched by CBP. Activists, including members of a convoy that delivered humanitarian aid to Cuba in response to the US’s ongoing blockade of the island nation, have had their phones seized at the border. 自特朗普重返总统职位以来，移民、游客和其他非公民在手机被CBP搜查后，遭到驱逐出境或被拒绝入境——其中一个案例中，当事人还被海关人员扣留并据称遭到了“暴力审讯”。包括为响应美国对古巴持续封锁而向该国运送人道主义援助的车队成员在内的活动人士，其手机也在边境被扣押。
CBP phone searches remain relatively rare, but they’re on the rise. The agency conducted 55,318 searches of phones and other electronic devices during the 2025 fiscal year, up from 41,767 in 2023 — a 32 percent increase. CBP的手机搜查虽然相对罕见，但数量正在上升。该机构在2025财年对手机和其他电子设备进行了55,318次搜查，高于2023年的41,767次，增长了32%。
But the CAIR complaint notes that border agents can only confiscate a person’s property at a port of entry if they have “reasonable cause to believe that any law or regulation enforced by Customs or Border Protection or Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been violated.” There is one exception to that rule, however: “national security concern.” 但CAIR的诉状指出，边境人员只有在“有合理理由相信任何由海关及边境保卫局或移民及海关执法局执行的法律或法规受到违反”的情况下，才能在入境口岸没收个人的财产。然而，该规则有一个例外：“国家安全顾虑”。
In the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination last September, Trump issued an executive order designating “Antifa” as a terrorist organization, even though it is not an actual organization. Trump also issued a presidential memorandum calling for a “new law enforcement strategy that investigates all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies.” Presidential adviser Stephen Miller described this as an “all-of-government approach to dismantle left-wing terrorism.” By linking Kirk’s killer to so-called “antifa terrorists” — and smearing any and all of its opponents as said terrorists — the administration has given itself cover to harass and intimidate anyone who might be critical of the government. 在去年9月保守派活动人士查理·柯克（Charlie Kirk）遇刺后，特朗普发布了一项行政命令，将“反法西斯运动”（Antifa）定性为恐怖组织，尽管它并非一个实际的组织。特朗普还发布了一份总统备忘录，呼吁采取“一种调查所有参与这些犯罪和恐怖阴谋者的全新执法策略”。总统顾问斯蒂芬·米勒（Stephen Miller）将其描述为“拆解左翼恐怖主义的政府全方位方针”。通过将柯克的杀手与所谓的“反法西斯恐怖分子”联系起来，并抹黑所有反对者为上述恐怖分子，本届政府为自己骚扰和恐吓任何可能批评政府的人提供了掩护。
The following January, the administration described the widespread resistance to ICE’s brutal raids in the Twin Cities as a coordinated plot and announced that the FBI was investigating Signal chats in which Minnesotans track and organize against ICE. Miller called Alex Pretti, one of the two people DHS agents killed in Minneapolis, as a “domestic terrorist” and “would-be assassin.” 次年1月，政府将双子城（明尼阿波利斯-圣保罗）对ICE残酷突袭的广泛抵制描述为一场有组织的阴谋，并宣布联邦调查局（FBI）正在调查明尼苏达州人用于追踪和组织反抗ICE的Signal聊天记录。米勒称亚历克斯·普雷蒂（Alex Pretti）——国土安全部特工在明尼阿波利斯杀死的两人之一——为“国内恐怖分子”和“准刺客”。
Corcelius was among the Minnesotans who opposed ICE’s presence in the Twin Cities. In addition to her organizing, she shared news on social media about a Minneapolis City Council resolution encouraging European institutions to divest from corporations that contract with DHS, according to the complaint. 根据诉状，科塞利乌斯是反对ICE在双子城活动的明尼苏达州人之一。除了组织活动外，她还在社交媒体上分享了关于明尼阿波利斯市议会一项决议的新闻，该决议鼓励欧洲机构从与国土安全部签约的企业中撤资。
“These rules that attempt to bring terrorism into the domestic policy discussion are exactly what we have been afraid of happening for a long time,” John Fossum, a staff attorney at CAIR representing Corcelius, told The Verge. “The use of these types of terrorist designations domestically allows the administration to plug into this national security apparatus that…” “这些试图将恐怖主义引入国内政策讨论的规则，正是我们长期以来一直担心会发生的事情，”代表科塞利乌斯的CAIR专职律师约翰·福瑟姆（John Fossum）告诉《The Verge》。“在国内使用这类恐怖主义定性，使得政府能够接入这种国家安全机制，从而……”