Tips for travellers entering the US now: Check your visa, turn off phone

At airports and land borders across the US, tourists and other visitors have reported being caught up in the Trump administration’s campaign of “enhanced vetting”.

Even legal immigrants, such as green card holders, and naturalised citizens have been pulled aside for additional questioning and searches. This has prompted questions about best practices for crossing into the US, travellers’ rights at the borders, and the legality of device and luggage searches.

Here are some things to know before you visit or return to the US, as a tourist, legal resident or citizen.

Are you a visitor with a visa or Esta? It should align with your travel plans

According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), US border officials have “wide-ranging discretion” to deny entry.

That decision can be made based on suspicion that the person is entering the country for a purpose other than what their visa or Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (Esta) says. For example, they have a tourist visa, but it seems like they may be planning to work.

“We’ve seen people detained just for saying they’re ‘Open to Work’ on LinkedIn,” said Mr Michael Wildes, a New Jersey-based immigration lawyer who handled First Lady Melania Trump’s immigration to the US. “That serves as proof that they are not just going to Disneyland or a wedding.”

Ms Cheryl David, an immigration lawyer in New York City, stressed that no rules have changed when it comes to entering the US.

But, she said, there is now a clear “zero tolerance policy”.

Even citizens should prepare for additional screening

If questions arise regarding passengers’ travel documents, border officials can pull them out of line and submit them to additional screening, at which point luggage and electronic devices such as laptops and smartphones can be searched.

US citizens and lawful permanent residents cannot be denied entry for refusing to hand over their devices, but such a refusal could still lead to a longer customs process, the ACLU said.

Green card holders, naturalised citizens may be subject to more screening

Ms Catherine, 67, a naturalised citizen who moved to the US 45 years ago, said she had never been selected for additional questioning when coming through immigration. But since the start of the Trump administration, she has been stopped twice for reasons that remain unclear to her.

She asked to be identified by only her middle name because of her fear that her naturalised status could be revoked for speaking out.

Most recently, Ms Catherine was returning from Argentina when she and her husband were stopped at an airport in Dallas.

Border control there was automated, with passengers scanning passports to get through gates, but when it came time to take a photo, a big red X flashed on the screen for her.

Her husband spoke to border officials, and the couple eventually got through.

Travellers’ social media, text chats can be searched

Because border control technically exists outside the US, travellers with visas or those with Estas have limited ability to push back against searches of their electronic devices, according to the ACLU.

And if they do, they risk being denied entry.

There are generally two types of searches of an electronic device – manual and advanced, said Mr Tom McBrien, a lawyer with the Electronic Privacy Information Centre, an internet privacy non-profit in Washington.

Manual searches involve looking through an unlocked phone. Courts have generally seen this as equivalent to going through luggage and have allowed manual searches to proceed without obtaining a warrant, Mr McBrien said.

An advanced, or “forensic” search, involves hooking up an external device to the phone to scan its contents. Some federal districts require a warrant for this, while others do not, he said.

Mr McBrien and other privacy experts recommend deleting anything you would not want someone to read or see from your device before arrival.

Mr McBrien also advises his clients to disable the Face ID or Touch ID features on their phones, so that it takes more than an officer waving a phone in front of their face or placing their finger on it to open it.

Even better, he said, is to turn off the phone before going through border control, because phones tend to require the full passcode when turned back on.

If you refuse to unlock your phone when asked, the authorities can seize it and will most likely need to obtain a warrant to open it, he added. However, visitors can be denied entry to the US for refusing to unlock their phones.

Mr Wildes said the main thing border patrol officers look for is consistency.

If a forensic search shows a deactivated social media account, officials may ask for it to be reactivated, he said. If an e-mail account was recently deleted, they can request to access it. NYTIMES