Advocacy groups and some legal experts told Congress that it was unreasonable for federal officials to search the laptops of United States citizens when they re-enter the country from traveling abroad.
Civil rights groups have said that certain ethnic groups have been selectively profiled in the searches by Border Patrol agents and customs officials, who have the authority to inspect all luggage and cargo brought into the country without obtaining warrants or having probable cause.
Companies whose employees travel overseas have also criticized the inspections, saying that the search of electronic devices could
hurt their businesses.
The U.S. government says the searches are necessary for national security and for legal action against people who bring illegal material into the country.
“If you asked most Americans whether the government has the right to look through their luggage for contraband when they are returning from an overseas trip, they would tell you, ‘Yes, the government has that right,’” Senator Russ Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, said Wednesday at the hearing of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee.
“But,” Feingold continued, “if you asked them whether the government has a right to open their laptops, read their documents and e-mails, look at their photographs and examine the Web sites they have visited, all without any suspicion of wrongdoing, I think those same Americans would say that the government absolutely has no right to do that.”
In April, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the Customs and Border Protection agency could conduct searches without reasonable suspicion.
In her testimony, Farhana Khera, the president and executive director of Muslim Advocates, said Muslim Americans traveling abroad had often had electronic storage devices seized without apparent cause. She said several had also been questioned about their political views.
Susan Gurley, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, said…
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