Latest news with #CustomandBorderProtection
WIRED
13-06-2025
- Politics
- WIRED
The High-Flying Escalation of CBP's Predator Drone Flights Over LA
Jun 13, 2025 11:48 AM Custom and Border Protection flying powerful Predator B drones over Los Angeles further breaks the seal on federal involvement in civilian matters typically handled by state or local authorities. An MQ-9 Reaper drone with Customs and Border Protection awaits the next mission over the US-Mexico border on November 4, 2022, at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Photograph:On Wednesday, United States Customs and Border Protection confirmed to 404 Media that it has been flying Predator drones over Los Angeles amid the LA protests. The military drones, a CBP statement said, 'are supporting our federal law enforcement partners in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with aerial support of their operations.' State-level law enforcement agencies across the US use various types of drones and other vehicles, like helicopters, to conduct aerial surveillance, and other agencies use drones in their operations as well. For example, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 'doubled its use of drones' this year, according to the office of Governor Gavin Newsom, as part of efforts to combat forest fires. However, CBP's MQ-9 Reaper drones, also known as Predator B drones, are military-caliber UAVs used for aerial reconnaissance that can be armed. In 2020, during President Donald Trump's first administration, CBP flew a Predator drone over Minneapolis during the George Floyd protests. And, in the intervening years, researchers have tracked Department of Homeland Security Predator drones flying over various US cities with no clear explanation. In the case of LA, Trump has deployed more than 700 active-duty Marines and federalized the National Guard, sending nearly 4,000 guardsmen to California over Newsom's objections. In combination with these actions, the presence of the CBP drones paints a picture of expanding federal involvement—and potentially control—over what are typically state matters. 'Military gear has been used for domestic law enforcement for a long time, but flying military gear over LA at a time when the president has sent military units against the wishes of the governor is noteworthy," says Matthew Feeney, a longtime emerging technologies researcher and advocacy manager at the nonpartisan UK civil liberties group Big Brother Watch. 'If the federal government portrays immigration as a national security issue, we shouldn't be surprised if it openly uses the tools of national security—i.e., military hardware—in response.' Carrying powerful cameras and other sensors, Predator drones can record clear, detailed footage of events like protests from high altitudes. CBP's 'Air and Marine Operations (AMO) is providing aerial support to federal law enforcement partners conducting operations in the Greater Los Angeles area,' CBP told WIRED in a statement responding to questions about whether the operation over LA is routine or anomalous. 'AMO's efforts are focused on situational awareness and officer safety support as requested.' Patrick Eddington, a senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato Institute, warns that 'the more the protests spread to other cities, the more of that kind of surveillance we'll see.' CBP told 404 Media this week that 'AMO is not engaged in the surveillance of first amendment activities.' That statement aligns with a commitment the US Department of Homeland Security made in December 2015. 'Unmanned aircraft system-recorded data should not be collected, disseminated or retained solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the US Constitution, such as the First Amendment's protections of religion, speech, press, assembly, and redress of grievances (e.g., protests, demonstrations),' a DHS 'Privacy, Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Unmanned Aircraft Systems Working Group' wrote at the time. In practice, though, it is unclear how the Predator surveillance could 'support' ICE agents and other federal law enforcement without monitoring the protests and capturing images of protesters. While researchers note that the use of Predator drones over LA is not unprecedented—and, at this point, perhaps not surprising—they emphasize that this pattern of activity over time only makes it more likely that the federal government will deploy such monitoring in the future, regardless of how a state is handling a situation. 'It's not new or even all that unexpected from a spooked Trump administration, but it's still a terrible use of military technology on civilian populations,' says UAV researcher Faine Greenwood. 'It's basically continuing a worrying trend, but also people should be angry about it and refuse to normalize it.'
WIRED
21-04-2025
- WIRED
How to Protect Yourself From Phone Searches at the US Border
Lily Hay Newman Matt Burgess Apr 21, 2025 6:30 AM Custom and Border Protection has broad authority to search travelers' devices when they cross into the United States. Here's what you can do to protect your digital life while at the US border. Photo-Illustration:Entering the United States has become more precarious since the start of the second Trump administration in January. There has been an apparent surge in both foreign visitors and US visa holders being detained, questioned, and even deported at the border. As the situation evolves, demand for flights from Canada and Europe has plummeted as people reevaluate their travel plans. Many people, though, can't avoid border crossings, whether they are returning home after traveling for work or visiting friends and family abroad. Regardless of the reason for travel, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have the authority to search people's phones and other devices as they determine who is allowed to enter the country. Multiple travelers have reported being questioned or turned away at the US border in recent weeks in relation to content on their phones. While not unique to the US border—other nations also have powers to inspect phones—the increasingly volatile nature of the Trump administration's border policies is causing people to rethink the risks of carrying devices packed with personal information to and from the US. Canadian authorities have updated travel guidance to warn of phone searches and seizures, some corporate executives are reconsidering the devices they carry, some officials in Europe continue to receive burner phones for certain trips to the US, and the Committee to Protect Journalists has warned foreign reporters about device searches at the US border. With this in mind, here's the WIRED guide to planning for bringing a smartphone across the border. You should also use WIRED's guide to entering the US with your digital privacy intact to get a broader view of how to minimize data and take precautions. But start here for everything smartphone. What Can CBP Access? Do CBP officials have the authority to search your phone at the border? The short answer is yes. Searches are either manual, with a border official looking through the device, or more advanced, involving forensic tools to extract data en masse. To get into your phone, border officials can ask for your PIN or biometric to unlock the phone. However, your legal status and right to enter the US will make a difference in what a search might look like at the border. Generally, border zones—which includes US international airports—fall outside of Fourth Amendment protections that require a warrant for a device to be searched (though one federal court has ruled otherwise). As such, CBP has the power to search any traveler's phone or other electronic devices, such as computers and cameras, when they're entering the country. US citizens and green card holders can refuse a device search without being denied entry, but they may face additional questioning or temporary device seizure. And as the Trump administration pushes the norms of acceptable government conduct, it is possible that, in practice, green card holders could face new repercussions for declining a device search. US visa holders and foreign visitors can face detention and deportation for refusing a device search. 'Not everybody has the same risk profile,' says Molly Rose Freeman Cyr, a member of Amnesty International's Security Lab. 'A person's legal status, the social media accounts that they use, the messaging apps that they use, and the contents of their chats' should all factor into their risk calculus and the decisions they make about border crossings, Cyr says. If you feel safe refusing a search, make sure to disable biometrics used to unlock your device, like face or fingerprint scanners, which CBP officers can use to access your device. Instead, use only a PIN or an alphanumeric code (if available on your device). Make sure to keep your phone's operating system up to date, which can make it hard to crack with forensic tools. You should also consider factors like nationality, citizenship, profession, and geopolitical views in assessing whether you or someone you're traveling with could be at higher risk of scrutiny during border crossings. In short, you need to make some decisions before you travel about whether you would be prepared to refuse a device search and whether you want to make changes to your devices before your trips. Keep in mind that there are simple steps anyone can take to keep your devices out of sight and, hopefully, out of mind during border crossings. It's always a good idea to obtain a printed boarding pass or prepare other paper documents for review and then turn your phone off and store it in your bag before you approach a CBP agent. Traveling With an Alternate Phone There are two ways to approach device privacy for border crossings. One is to start with a clean slate, purchasing a phone for the purpose of traveling or wiping and repurposing your old phone—if it still receives software updates. The device doesn't need to be a true 'burner' phone, in the sense that you will be carrying it with you as if nothing is out of the ordinary, so you don't need to purchase it with cash or take other steps to ensure that it can't be connected to you. The idea, though, is to build a sanitized version of your digital life on the travel phone, ideally with separate communication and social media accounts created specifically for travel. This way, if your device is searched, it won't have the back catalog of data—old text messages, years of photos, forgotten apps, and access to many or all of your digital accounts—that exists on your primary phone and could reveal details of your political views, your associations, or your movements over time. Starting with a clean slate makes it easy to practice 'data minimization,' or reducing the data available to another person: Simply put the things you'll need for a trip on the phone without anything you won't need. You might make a travel email address, some alternate social media accounts, and a separate account for end-to-end encrypted communications using an app like Signal or WhatsApp. Ideally you would totally silo your real digital life from this travel life. But you can also include some of your regular personal apps, building back from the ground up while determining on a selective basis whether you have existing accounts that you feel comfortable potentially exposing. Perhaps, for example, you think that showing a connection to your employer or a community organization could be advantageous in a fraught situation. Privacy and digital rights advocates largely prefer the approach of building a travel device from scratch, but they caution that a phone that is too squeaky clean, too much like a burner phone, can arouse suspicion. 'You have to 'seed' the device. Use the phone for a day or even for a few hours. It just can't be clean clean. That's weird,' says Matt Mitchell, founder of CryptoHarlem, a security and privacy training and advocacy nonprofit. 'My recommendation is to make a finsta for travel, because if they ask you what your profile is, how are you gonna say 'I don't use any social media'? Many people have a few accounts anyway. One ratchet, one wholesome—add one travel.' Cyr, from Amnesty International, also points out that a true burner phone would be a 'dumb' phone, which wouldn't be able to run apps for encrypted communications. 'The advantage that we all have with smartphones is that you can communicate in an encrypted way,' Cyr says. 'People should be conscious that any nonencrypted communication is less secure than a phone call or a message on an application like Signal.' While a travel device doesn't need to use a prepaid SIM card bought with cash, it should not share your normal phone number, since this number is likely linked to most if not all of your key digital accounts. Buy a SIM card for your trip or only use the device on Wi-Fi. Traveling With Your Primary Phone The other approach you can take to protecting your device during border crossings is to modify your primary smartphone before travel. This involves removing old photos and messages and storing them somewhere else, cleaning out nonessential apps, and either removing some apps altogether or logging out of them with your main accounts and logging back in with travel accounts. Mohammed Al-Maskati, digital security helpline director at the rights group Access Now, says that people should consider this type of clean-out before they travel. 'I will look at my device and see what apps I need,' he says. 'If I don't need the app, I just remove it.' Al-Maskati adds that he suggests people particularly remember to remove dating apps and anything related to LGBTQI communities, especially if they consider themselves to be at higher risk of facing a device search. And generally, this approach is only safe if you are particularly diligent about removing every app that might expose you to risk. You could use your own phone as a travel phone by backing it up, wiping it, building a travel device with only the apps you really need while traveling, going on your trip, and then restoring from the backup when you get home. This approach is doable but time consuming, and it creates more opportunities for operational security mistakes or what are known as 'opsec fails.' If you try to delete all of your old, unwanted apps, but miss one, you could end up exposing an old social media account or other historic service that has forgotten data in it. Messaging apps can have easily searchable archives going back years and can automatically save photos and files without you realizing it. And if you back up all of your data to the cloud and take it off your device, but are still logged into the cloud account underpinning other services (like your main Google or Apple account), you could be asked to produce the data from the cloud for inspection. Still, if you assess that you are at low risk of facing scrutiny during a border crossing or you don't have access to an additional device for travel, modifying your main smartphone is a good option. Just be careful. What To Do, If Nothing Else Given all of this, you may be hyped up and ready to throw your phone in the ocean. Or you may be thinking there's no way in hell that you're ever going to take the time to deal with any of this. For those in the latter camp, you've come this far, so don't click away just yet. If you don't want to take the time to make a bunch of changes, and you don't think you're at particular risk during border crossings (though keep in mind that it's possible your risk is higher than you realize), there are still a few easy things you can do to protect your digital privacy that are better than nothing. First, as mentioned above, print a paper boarding pass and any other documents you might need. Even if you don't turn your phone off and stow it in a bag for your entire entry or exit process, you can put it in your pocket and have your paper ticket and other documents ready while actually interacting with agents. And taking basic digital hygiene steps, like updating your phone and removing apps and data you no longer need, can go a long way. 'We all need to be recognizing that authorities may scrutinize your online presence, including social media activity and posts you've published,' says Danacea Vo, founder of Cyberlixir, a cybersecurity provider for nonprofits and vulnerable communities. 'Since people have gotten more vocal on social media, they're very worried about this. Some have even decided not to risk traveling to or from the US this year.'
