Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have asserted broad authority to search travelers' phones at the border, a practice that courts have generally allowed without Fourth Amendment protections. However, a recent case involving Samuel Tunick, a member of the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement, challenges this precedent.

In January 2025, Tunick was returning from a vacation in the Dominican Republic when a CBP Tactical Terrorism Response Team detained him in a windowless room and demanded his phone password. An agent told him, "Because you're refusing to talk, which is your right, we have the authority to go through your phone to see what we're looking for."

Instead of providing his actual password, Tunick gave a "duress password" that erased all data on his Google Pixel phone, which ran GrapheneOS, an operating system known for strong security. Eleven months later, the federal government charged Tunick under a rarely used law alleging obstruction for providing the erasure code.

After months of delays, the case had its first hearing on July 29, 2026. Tunick's lawyers argued that the government obtained the duress password in violation of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights, and therefore all evidence from the phone should be excluded as "fruits of his unlawful interrogation." They also contended that the Fourth Amendment exemption for border searches should not extend to digital data on phones.

Experts have advised that U.S. citizens can protect their data from border searches by wiping devices before travel, though this is more complicated for foreigners, who may be denied entry for having empty phones. An expert told The New York Times that the Tunick case may not criminalize pre-travel data wiping, as travelers could argue they lacked intent to obstruct an imminent search.

The Defend the Atlanta Forest movement, also known as Stop Cop City, opposes the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center in Georgia on environmental and anti-police militarization grounds. The movement gained attention after police fatally shot protester Manuel Esteban Paez Terán in January 2023 under disputed circumstances.

This case highlights ongoing tensions between government border search powers and digital privacy rights.

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