{"id":4647,"date":"2026-07-15T05:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647"},"modified":"2026-07-15T05:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T05:04:31","slug":"returning-to-the-u-s-court-says-agents-can-search-your-phone-without-a-warrant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647","title":{"rendered":"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal officers don\u2019t need a warrant to search the phones of travelers entering the country, a U.S. appellate court ruled this week.<\/p>\n

Read more With shorter waits, ridership on GoRaleigh\u2019s busiest bus route tops 1 million<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cBorder searches do not require a warrant to be reasonable. And if a border search is routine, individualized suspicion is not required either,\u201d U.S. Circuit Judge Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. wrote in the opinion<\/a> released by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on Monday.<\/a><\/p>\n

The published opinion sets binding precedent throughout the 4th Circuit, including North Carolina and four surrounding states, on how U.S. courts should balance constitutional protections against unreasonable searches with the federal government\u2019s broader authority to police borders and ports of entry<\/a>, such as airports.<\/p>\n

The ruling makes the 4th Circuit the final federal appeals court to address the question<\/a>, aligning it with other circuits that have already considered the constitutional challenge.<\/p>\n

The ruling centers on a Virginia case involving a May 2024 interaction between federal officers and Jose Alejandro Belmonte Cardozo<\/a>, a U.S. citizen who arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport following a visit to Bolivia.<\/p>\n

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent asked that Belmonte Cardozo be sent for secondary inspection, because he was returning from a country with human and child sex trafficking challenges, court documents show. Belmonte Cardozo had also been listed in a report of travelers with suspicious financial data that investigators believed was indicative of child sex abuse material purchases.<\/p>\n

In addition, Customs and Border Protection was running \u201ca special operation\u201d that month focusing on child sexual abuse materials, the agent testified.<\/p>\n

During the secondary search of Belmonte Cardozo\u2019s baggage, agents found two iPhones and ordered him to provide the passcode to unlock them, which he did, according to court documents filed in the criminal case in the federal Eastern District of Virginia.<\/a><\/p>\n

Within two minutes of tapping through one of his phones, an agent found sexually explicit photos and videos of young girls, court documents state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI observed approximately 50 videos that appeared to have been created on Snapchat, and which depicted three or four different minor girls between approximately 8 and 14 years old,\u201d a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security wrote in a court filing seeking charges against Belmonte Cardozo, 31, and his arrest. The investigation found he pretended to be a teenage boy on Snapchat and convinced minor girls to send him sexually explicit images and videos, states a media release from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.<\/p>\n

Belmonte Cardozo pleaded guilty to 10 federal charges, including coercing a minor to engage in sexual activity, transporting and possessing child pornography.<\/p>\n

He was sentenced to 18 years in prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release.<\/p>\n

Read more Scholarship pulled, Woodhouse resigns and Mama Kelce visits Raleigh: Tuesday’s top stories<\/a><\/p>\n

In his appeal to the 4th Circuit, Belmonte Cardozo<\/u><\/a> argued that the manual search wasn\u2019t routine because iPhone search features provide essentially the same access as a forensic search, which the court considers more intrusive and requires a higher level of suspicion.<\/p>\n

Multiple civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union<\/u><\/a>, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press<\/u><\/a>, and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University<\/u><\/a>, filed briefs supporting his argument.<\/p>\n

A brief filed by the committee and the institute argued that warrantless phone searches infringe on travelers\u2019 Fourth Amendment privacy rights. It also argued the searches threaten First Amendment fee speech and association protection, noting that border searches of journalists could reveal sensitive newsgathering information, including the names of confidential sources.<\/p>\n

The opinion explored how the Fourth Amendment generally requires local and state officers to obtain a warrant before conducting a phone search, with several exceptions that judges use to balance privacy rights against law enforcement\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n

However, this case involved a border search at an airport, one of the U.S.\u2019s 300 ports of entry, and federal laws<\/u><\/a> that give U.S. officials \u201cbroad authority to conduct routine searches and seizures without probable cause or a warrant,\u201d the opinion states.<\/p>\n

The broad authority was initially granted to allow federal agents to collect customs duties on goods and prevent contraband from entering the U.S., but now supports a more complex mission<\/u><\/a> of screening foreign visitors, returning citizens and imported cargo.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless exempt by diplomatic status, all persons entering the United States, including U.S. citizens, are subject to examination and search,\u201d by Customs and Border Protection officers, the agency states on its website.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

The 4th Circuit reached a similar conclusion, writing that \u201cthe balance of these expectations against the government\u2019s heightened interests at the border justifies the border search exception,\u201d the decision states.<\/p>\n

The judges then addressed where that broad authority ends.<\/p>\n

The court said warrantless searches are limited to routine searches, which don\u2019t include the more intrusive forensic searches that involve extracting data from cell phones.<\/p>\n

\u201cWere the government to devote the manpower and time needed to conduct lengthy manual searches in a way that would deprive an individual of their phone for extended periods of time, other Fourth Amendment principles may come into play,\u201d the opinion states.<\/p>\n

Read more Live cockroaches, Durham restaurant employee not using soap: latest inspections<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 2:05 PM.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A published 4th Circuit ruling says federal border agents can search travelers\u2019 phones without a warrant, setting binding precedent for North Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nReturning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant - Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A published 4th Circuit ruling says federal border agents can search travelers\u2019 phones without a warrant, setting binding precedent for North Carolina.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T05:04:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"headline\":\"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T05:04:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647\"},\"wordCount\":913,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/565af0eaedd10ece55fa337500820bf3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Read today's Edition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647\",\"name\":\"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant - Durham Moving Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/565af0eaedd10ece55fa337500820bf3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T05:04:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/565af0eaedd10ece55fa337500820bf3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/565af0eaedd10ece55fa337500820bf3.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"The late afternoon sunshine illuminates a passenger arriving for a flight inside Terminal 2 at RDU International airport on Friday, December 19, 2025 in Morrisville, N.C.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4647#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Durham Moving Hub\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant - Durham Moving Hub","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant - Durham Moving Hub","og_description":"A published 4th Circuit ruling says federal border agents can search travelers\u2019 phones without a warrant, setting binding precedent for North Carolina.","og_url":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647","og_site_name":"Durham Moving Hub","article_published_time":"2026-07-15T05:04:31+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85"},"headline":"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant","datePublished":"2026-07-15T05:04:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647"},"wordCount":913,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/565af0eaedd10ece55fa337500820bf3.jpg","articleSection":["Read today's Edition"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647","url":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647","name":"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant - Durham Moving Hub","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/565af0eaedd10ece55fa337500820bf3.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-15T05:04:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/565af0eaedd10ece55fa337500820bf3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/565af0eaedd10ece55fa337500820bf3.jpg","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"The late afternoon sunshine illuminates a passenger arriving for a flight inside Terminal 2 at RDU International airport on Friday, December 19, 2025 in Morrisville, N.C."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4647#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Returning to the U.S.? Court says agents can search your phone without a warrant"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/","name":"Durham Moving Hub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/durhammovinghub.com"],"url":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}