Second Circuit Upholds Warrantless Cell Phone Searches at U.S. Border

The Second Circuit, in United States v. Alisigwe, affirmed that customs agents may conduct warrantless, suspicionless examinations of a traveler’s cell phone at the border. Chinwendu Alisigwe, a lawful permanent resident, was stopped at JFK Airport, asked to unlock his phone, and had its data manually reviewed, revealing fraud-related evidence. The panel cited historic Fourth Amendment authority allowing routine border searches of property without probable cause.

It distinguished these searches from “non-routine” intrusions, which would require reasonable suspicion, and concluded that a phone constitutes property subject to the same rule. The court also dismissed attempts to extend Riley v. California to the border context, emphasizing that the border-search exception rests on sovereign interests distinct from the arrest-incident exception.