52,080: U.S. border officers search traveler devices at near-record pace

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers searched 52,080 electronic devices belonging to travelers between October 1, 2025, and June 30, 2026. This figure represents a 32 percent increase over the 39,251 devices inspected during the same period in the prior fiscal year. The current total stands within 3,344 units of the all-time record of 55,424 devices searched in fiscal 2025.

CBP classified 47,517 of these inspections as basic searches. Officers may conduct basic searches without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. The remaining 4,564 were advanced searches, which require reasonable suspicion of unlawful activity or a national security concern. These advanced procedures allow officers to analyze or copy device contents.

The agency did not disclose how many of these searches occurred at the Canadian border versus the Mexican border. It also withheld data on whether inspections took place at airports or land crossings. CBP did not release the total number of travelers entering the country during this period, nor did it specify how many searches involved U.S. citizens compared to non-citizens. These details are typically included in the agency's annual reports.

Jessica Turner, a CBP public affairs officer, noted that searches affect a small fraction of the 419 million travelers who entered the country in 2025. She stated that only 0.01 percent of travelers had their devices searched year-over-year. Turner said the searches aim to detect digital contraband, terrorism-related content, and information relevant to admissibility.

Esha Bhandari, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said the rise calls for more congressional oversight. She said, "It's hard to speculate on the reasons for the increase because the government doesn't explain it." Bhandari argued that when the government holds a power, it tends to use it to the detriment of travelers' privacy. She cited anecdotes from her group, including travelers being asked about political opinions, writing, or religious practice.

In January, CBP updated its guidelines to include flash drives, SIM cards, GPS systems, unmanned aircraft systems, vehicle infotainment systems, and smart watches in the scope of device searches. The update also added smuggling of narcotics, firearms, and transnational theft of proprietary information to the list of detectable crimes. Bhandari described these changes as affecting only a few procedures at the margins and suggested the increase may reflect advances in technology and a lack of federal court limits on government authority.

Laura Dawson, executive director of the Future Borders Coalition, said the increase is difficult to judge without knowing where the searches occurred or how many people crossed. She noted that the World Cup this summer may have brought a more diverse mix of visitors. Dawson also pointed to greater focus on border security and closer cooperation between Canadian and U.S. border services, including on human smuggling and the Ryan Wedding case. She said one in 9,000 crossings leads to a U.S. inspection, while one in 14,000 leads to a search on the Canadian side.

The Canada Border Services Agency has not yet released its 2026 statistics. Dawson said device searches remain rare despite alarming stories on social media. Canadian officials have searched a much smaller share of devices than their U.S. counterparts in recent years, and those numbers have been falling.