U.S. border device searches up 32 per cent this year

Searches of phones, laptops and other electronic devices of travellers entering the United States are up more than 32 per cent this year and are on track to set a record, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data obtained by CBC News.

During the first three quarters of the agency’s 2026 fiscal year, from Oct. 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, officers searched 52,080 devices. In the same period a year earlier they searched 39,251. That is nearly as many as in all of fiscal 2025, when a record 55,424 devices were searched.

Of this year’s searches, 47,517 were basic searches, which an officer can carry out without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing. Another 4,564 were advanced searches, which let an officer analyze or copy a device’s contents when there is reasonable suspicion of a legal violation or a national security concern.

CBP would not say how many searches took place at the Canadian border compared with the Mexican border, nor how many happened at airports versus land crossings. It also would not say how many travellers entered the country in that period or how many searches involved U.S. citizens.

CBP public affairs officer Jessica Turner said searches remain “exceedingly rare,” affecting 0.01 per cent of travellers each year. She said the searches are used 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 increase calls for more congressional oversight. She said travellers are sometimes asked about their political opinions or religious practice. “It’s hard to speculate on the reasons for the increase because the government doesn’t explain it,” Bhandari said.

Laura Dawson, executive director of the Future Borders Coalition, said the figures are hard to assess without knowing where the searches happened, noting the summer’s World Cup brought more travellers. She said about one in 9,000 border crossings results in a U.S. inspection, and one in 14,000 results in a search on the Canadian side. The Canada Border Services Agency said its 2026 search figures are not yet available.

In January, CBP updated its guidelines to specify that devices include flash drives, SIM cards, GPS systems, drones, vehicle infotainment systems and smart watches. Canada has also updated its travel advice to warn of U.S. officers’ powers to search devices. The numbers come as Canadian travel to the United States is shifting: Canadian return trips from the U.S. rose 6.8 per cent in September.

Via CBC News: Searches of cellphones, laptops by U.S. customs up more than 32% so far this year.

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