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226 points proberts | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source

As usual, there are countless immigration topics and I'll be guided by whatever you're concerned with. Please remember that I can't provide legal advice on specific cases for obvious liability reasons because I won't have access to all the facts. Please stick to a factual discussion in your questions and comments and I'll do the same in my answers!

Previous threads we've done: https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=proberts.

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miotintherain ◴[] No.46163747[source]
Hi Peter, thanks for the AMA!

I work for an American company and I am based in Europe. I visit the US for work every now and then. I heard a lot of horror stories regarding border entries. If I am ever in a situation where the border police asks for access to my personal phone and pin code, what are my options? Can I refuse and what happens then?

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proberts ◴[] No.46165193[source]
You are within your rights to say no but if you say no, almost certainly CBP will assume that you are hiding something and deny you admission.
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criddell ◴[] No.46166254[source]
Can they deny you admission when you are a US citizen?
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OptionOfT ◴[] No.46166459[source]
They can not. Neither US Citizens or Green Card Holders can be denied entry.

Sources: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-when-encounter...

https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/know-your-r...

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mrguyorama ◴[] No.46168450[source]
They are not legally entitled to deny you entry.

That doesn't mean they can't deny you entry. It means you might win a court case some day.

ICE cannot legally arrest people who are citizens for no reason, and yet they have done exactly that 30% of the time by their own admission.

"Knowing your rights" is meaningless if the public chooses to vote for people who don't care about those rights, and celebrate when you do not get your rights.

It doesn't matter what the paper says, it matters what CBP feels like doing, and what their management lets them get away with. The constitution is just a magic circle we all agree to play in, and isn't real if enough people disregard it.

If the border agent doesn't want you to come into the country, you are fucked. Nobody's job is to get between that agent and you and ensure the border agent follows the law on the paper, and the border agent will not go to jail or even lose their job for completely ignoring the law.

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1. mrguyorama ◴[] No.46211249{4}[source]
>ICE cannot legally arrest people who are citizens for no reason, and yet they have done exactly that 30% of the time by their own admission.

I can no longer modify, retract, edit, etc my comment. This statement is almost certainly false, and I made it without due diligence to confirm I remembered the wording of a claim ICE made.

We know ICE has arrested some people who are American citizens, but we do not have anything near enough good data to make anything close to the claim I made.

This is a record of my error. Remember this if you see my comments again.