'Don't delete social media apps from phone': Immigration attorney on US border checking

Checking social media before allowing entry into the country is not a new practice for the US but the new regulations only ensure that there will strict enforcement, Canada-based immigration attorney Benjamin Green said as Canadians, who don't require a visa to enter the US, will also come under some kind of social media checking. According to a proposed rule, the US administration will check social media details, old phone numbers, unused email addresses of all those who travel to the US -- even from countries which are on visa waiver.

Canada is ona visa waiver but social media checking at US border is nothing new, Green said, adding that people should not delete all social media apps from their phones, as that would instantly raise suspicion. Those who require visa will have to provide their details during the visa process but for Canadians, the check may happen in person when a border official asks for the phone of a person entering from Canada to the US.


Green told CTV that if a border agent finds out that a person's phone has no social media app or the person is traveling with a burner phone, this is an immediate red flag. “If I’m an officer and I see somebody has a wiped phone or a phone without social media or without any personal emails, that doesn’t scream to me, ‘Wow this is somebody who has nothing to hide.’ This screams to me that it’s somebody with something to hide.”

Green said Canadians should not face any problem if they are stopped at the border and their phones are checked. “This type of a search only happens in a larger, cascading series of events. On a given entry, you’ve said something that makes an officer question some things and on and on until they’re pulling you into secondary (screening) and looking at your phone,” he said. “But the average person, as long as it’s calm, cool and collected, it’s largely business as usual.”

Green said Canafdian travelers have the right to refuse to show border officers their phones or laptops but then the border officer also has the right to deny the entry.