CBP phone search duress password case puts airport device rules in court
Samuel Tunick faces a felony after prosecutors say he used a GrapheneOS password to erase his phone during CBP questioning.
By Maya Lindqvist · Senior Technology Correspondent
3 min read
A felony case over a CBP phone search duress password is testing what happens when a traveler allegedly erases a device during border questioning. Prosecutors say Samuel Tunick, a Georgia man, wiped his phone while Customs and Border Protection officers were trying to inspect it.
According to The Verge, Tunick was charged with a felony after the encounter. The case stands out because Tunick, like other travelers whose devices have been searched at airports, was an activist.
Court filings say CBP told Tunick it needed to inspect his phone to determine whether it held child sexual abuse material. Tunick’s lawyers argue the stated reason was a pretext and that officers were seeking information about his ties to the Stop Cop City protests in Atlanta.
What did prosecutors say happened to the phone?
A March motion to suppress evidence says Tunick did not agree to a search and repeatedly asked to speak with a lawyer. The filing says CBP officers told him they did not need a warrant to search the device.
Tunick eventually provided a password, according to court records cited by The Verge. When agents entered it, the phone’s display went dark, flashed several times and appeared to restart, the records say.
Prosecutors allege Tunick used a GrapheneOS “duress password” that erased the phone. They say that action deleted evidence.
A duress password, as described in the case, is a passcode that can trigger a wipe rather than unlock a device. The legal fight is over what consequences may follow when such a password is allegedly used during a government search.
Is a CBP phone search without a warrant legal?
The broader legal question remains unsettled. The Verge reports that courts have not agreed on whether warrantless phone searches at the border are lawful.
The case also comes amid heightened attention to travelers’ devices. The Verge reports that phones and other devices have faced increased scrutiny since Donald Trump returned to office.
Tunick’s lawyers connect the search to his alleged association with Stop Cop City, a protest movement in Atlanta. The Guardian reported that dozens of people connected to those protests were charged under Georgia’s state RICO law, and that those charges were later dismissed.
The New York Times reported that a small number of protesters still face domestic terrorism and arson cases. The filings in Tunick’s case, as summarized by The Verge, do not say officers found child sexual abuse material; they focus on the government’s stated reason for the search, Tunick’s refusal to consent and the alleged phone wipe.
The felony charge means a court may have to address both the border-search dispute and the alleged destruction of data. For travelers, the case underscores a practical risk: phone searches at airports can quickly become criminal matters when agents say evidence was deleted.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.