France’s research minister said the scientist was traveling to Houston for a conference when his phone was searched

France’s research minister said a French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration.

  • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    1 day ago

    Consent in a situation like this is difficult to establish, to the point of it being pointless.

    Hard disagree.

    Did they ask him if they could search and he said yes, or no? Or did they just take his device away from him and did a search without his permission?

    Consenting to a search, or have one mandated by a judge’s order, is one of the fundamental pillars of citizen rights and laws in this country.

    Was it a legal or illegal search? That’s not a pointless question to ask.

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      • Cosmic Cleric@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        16 hours ago

        I notice you asked for an explanation and then only sort-of read the first sentence.

        No, I read the whole thing, fully. I just disagreed with your analogy, thought it was a bad one, too verbose and obfuscating of the subject being talked about. Also it didn’t cover someone searching your belongings with/without your permission, the subject being talked about. Law officials have more legal leeway to detain you than they do to search your belongings without your permission, so your analogy doesn’t work (especially when you throw in beatings into it).

        Also, didn’t think your last paragraph was legally accurate, but didn’t want to bother arguing the point, since ‘amendment > law > policy/rule’ is a well-known given. I’m aware of the difference. When I asked my original question, it was to confirm if the border enforcement people were actually honoring the 4th amendment, or not, whatever their thought processes were.

        I did appreciate you taking the time to reply (and civilly at that) though, thank you. P.S. I hope the tone of my reply wasn’t too harsh, it wasn’t meant to be rude, just straightforward.

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