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Immigration advocate sues border agents for demanding his cell phone

Immigration advocate sues border agents for demanding his cell phone

arstechnica.com 30.09.2026 23:19 5 views
Reminder: The "border exemption" to your rights is real.

An Argentinian-American writer and immigration advocate recently sued the federal government, demanding that it delete data that he believes was copied off of his phone when he re-entered the United States earlier this month. According to the seven-page complaint, Thomas Kennedy said that a Customs and Border Protection agent at Miami International Airport physically searched his bags, questioned him about his books and magazines, and then demanded that he hand over his phone. He was then released with no charges.

The activist says there is a significant amount of sensitive personal and professional information on his phone, and he is now seeking that the government delete this data. He collaborates with multiple nonprofit groups, including the Florida Immigration Coalition, Amnesty International and the Community Justice Project. He now believes that he was targeted for this work, in part because he was asked repeatedly what he did for a living and if he was an immigration attorney.

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