{"id":46645,"date":"2022-02-15T18:17:41","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T23:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints"},"modified":"2025-06-17T16:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T20:54:10","slug":"privacy-borders-and-checkpoints","status":"publish","type":"issue","link":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints","title":{"rendered":"Privacy at Borders and Checkpoints"},"parent":46641,"menu_order":2,"template":"","class_list":["post-46645","issue","type-issue","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"featured-image":210810,"intro":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","what-you-need-to-know":null,"promo":{"description":"","button":"","url":""},"faq":{"description":"","faq-items":null},"featured-stories":null,"latest-stories":null,"whats-at-stake":{"title":"What's at Stake","description":"The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects all people within the United States from unreasonable stops and searches. While federal authorities enjoy broader powers at ports of entry, this power is not unlimited. However, the government has repeatedly developed programs\u2014increasingly involving new technologies\u2014that subject travelers to unreasonable stops and searches at the border, violating the basic tenets of our Constitution.\r\n\r\nThe government has asserted that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers may operate immigration checkpoints anywhere within 100 miles of the external boundary of the United States. This expanded border zone includes roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population and was established by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1953, when there were fewer than 1,100 Border Patrol agents around the country; today, there are over 21,000. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that these checkpoints can conduct only brief and limited inquiries into residency status and cannot be used predominantly for drug interdiction or other law enforcement efforts. Also, pursuant to the Fourth Amendment, no law enforcement or CBP agent may pull anyone over without a \u201creasonable suspicion\u201d of wrongdoing (which is more than just a \u201chunch\u201d) or search a vehicle without a warrant or \u201cprobable cause\u201d (which is a reasonable belief, based on the circumstances, that an immigration violation or crime has occurred). However, at checkpoints every day, border agents are unlawfully stopping, interrogating, and searching individuals with no suspicion of wrongdoing, and often in racially biased ways.\r\n\r\nThese alarming and unconstitutional practices coincide with the spread of other border-related powers, exacerbating government intrusion into our private lives. Examples include suspicionless searches of electronic devices, watchlist and database systems, advanced identification and tracking systems, and intrusive technological schemes (such as a \u201cvirtual border fence\u201d and surveillance drones). The government\u2019s dragnet approach to immigration and law enforcement both at the border and farther inland is one that turns us all into suspects. The ACLU has documented border and checkpoint rights violations and continues to file lawsuits to defend our right to privacy against government abuses of power."},"actions":"","drupal-id":109,"is_hidden_issue":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>American Civil Liberties Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Privacy at Borders and Checkpoints | American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Civil Liberties Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-17T20:54:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aclu\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints\",\"name\":\"Privacy at Borders and Checkpoints | American Civil Liberties Union\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-15T23:17:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-17T20:54:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/\",\"name\":\"American Civil Liberties Union\",\"description\":\"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"American Civil Liberties Union","description":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Privacy at Borders and Checkpoints | American Civil Liberties Union","og_description":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints","og_site_name":"American Civil Liberties Union","article_modified_time":"2025-06-17T20:54:10+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@aclu","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints","name":"Privacy at Borders and Checkpoints | American Civil Liberties Union","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-02-15T23:17:41+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-17T20:54:10+00:00","description":"The ACLU works in courts, legislatures, and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the Constitution and the laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/issues\/privacy-technology\/privacy-borders-and-checkpoints"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aclu.org\/","name":"American Civil Liberties Union","description":"The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union \u2014 beyond one person, party, or side. 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