What happens when your phone is confiscated at the airport

Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, it’s never a good idea to hand your phone to the cops . But international travelers at American airports often have no choice — even if they’re US citizens. When Minnesota labor organizer Janette Zahia Corcelius returned home from a three-week trip to Europe in late April, she was detained and questioned by customs agents at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Before they let her go, the agents searched her luggage twice, confiscated political literature she had purchased abroad, and seized her phone — which has yet to be returned, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Minnesota. Is it constitutional for Customs and Border Protection to take your phone? And to keep it? The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which sued the government on Corcelius’ behalf, doesn’t think so. The civil rights group claims she’s being targeted for her opposition to the ICE raids in Minneapolis. The suit Corcelius filed against the Department of Homeland Security alleges that the confiscation of her phone violates the Fourth Amendment, as well as CBP’s own regulations regarding searches and seizures. But the problem goes beyond one phone search. …