Learn about your rights when encountering law enforcement at the airdrome.

People going through the security line at the airport

What types of law enforcement officers could I encounter when entering or leaving the The states?

If I am inbound the U.Southward. with valid travel papers, can law enforcement officers finish and search me?

Generally, customs officers may terminate people at the border to determine whether they are admissible to the United States, and they may search people's property for contraband. This is truthful even if in that location is nothing suspicious virtually you or your luggage. The regime believes this potency to search without individualized suspicion extends to searches of electronic devices such as laptops and prison cell phones, but that is a contested legal issue. Officers may not select you for a personal search or secondary inspection based on your religion, race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, or political beliefs.

Tin border officers ask questions about my clearing status?

Customs officers accept the authority to ask your immigration condition in order to make up one's mind whether y'all take the right to enter the country. If you are a U.S. citizen, y'all need only answer questions establishing your identity and citizenship, although refusing to answer routine questions near the nature and purpose of your travel could result in delay and/or farther inspection. If you are a lawful permanent resident (LPR) who has maintained your condition, you only take to answer questions establishing your identity and permanent residency. Refusal to reply other questions will likely cause delay, but officials may not deny you lot entry into the United states of america for failure to answer other questions. If you are a not-citizen visa holder or visitor, yous may be denied entry into the United States if y'all refuse to answer officers' questions. Officers may non select you for questioning based on your religion, race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, or political beliefs. If you are told you cannot enter the country and you fear you might be persecuted or tortured if you are sent dorsum to the country from which you traveled, y'all should tell the customs officer about your fearfulness and enquire for aviary.

Can U.S. community officers ask questions about my religious beliefs and practices or political opinions?

Religious and political beliefs and associations are protected by the Offset Subpoena. Customs officers take sometimes asked travelers nigh their religious affiliation, religious practices, association with religious institutions, and political opinions. The travelers targeted for such questioning have often been Muslim. Questioning individuals about their religious and political beliefs, associations, and practices can borrow upon rights guaranteed by the Constitution and federal constabulary — these rights are not surrendered at the edge. If yous are a U.Southward. citizen or lawful permanent resident, you do non accept to answer questions about your religious beliefs and practices or political opinions, and you cannot be denied entry to the United States for declining to answer such questions. If community officers persist in asking you such questions, you can request to see a supervisor. If y'all are a non-citizen visa holder or visitor, yous may decline to answer general questions about your religious beliefs and political opinions, but doing then may atomic number 82 to filibuster or boosted questioning, or possibly denial of your entry into the country. If you are told you cannot enter the country and y'all fear you might be persecuted or tortured if you are sent back to the state from which you traveled, you should tell the customs officer most your fearfulness and ask for aviary.

Practise I have to provide my fingerprints when entering the state?

All visitors and lawful permanent residents are fingerprinted on entry into the Us from abroad.

If I am selected for a longer interview when I am coming into the United States, what tin I practice?

Your legal status in the country may inform what you decide to do if you are selected for longer questioning when entering the United States. U.S. citizens have the right to enter the U.s.a., so if you are a U.Southward. denizen and the officers' questions become intrusive, you can turn down to respond those questions, but y'all should be enlightened that doing so may consequence in delay and/or further inspection. The same is truthful for lawful permanent residents: y'all generally cannot be denied entry to the U.s.a., merely declining to reply questions may result in delay or further inspection. Refusal past not-citizen visa holders and visitors to answer questions may result in denial of entry.

If the officers' questions become intrusive or improper, you should mutter and enquire to speak to a supervisor. (This goes for citizens, lawful permanent residents, or non-citizen visa holders and visitors.) Although CBP takes the position that you are not entitled to an chaser during principal and secondary inspection, nosotros encourage you to take the telephone number of an attorney or legal services organisation with y'all and ask to contact them if you feel your rights are beingness violated or if you take been detained for an unusually long menstruation. For anyone attempting to enter the The states, if a customs officer or border amanuensis informs you that you are under arrest, or if it becomes clear that he or she suspects you lot take committed a crime, you should enquire to speak to a lawyer before answering any further questions — and if y'all wish to exercise your right to remain silent, y'all should say so out loud.

Do I have to provide my laptop passwords or unlock my mobile phone for police enforcement officers at the border?

Customs officers have sometimes asked travelers to provide their laptop passwords or unlock their mobile phones when they are entering or leaving the United states. Your legal status in the country may inform what y'all decide to practice if you're asked for a countersign to unlock your device. U.Due south. citizens cannot be denied entry to the United States for refusing to provide passwords or unlocking devices. Refusal to exercise so might lead to delay, additional questioning, and/or officers seizing your device for further inspection. The aforementioned should be truthful for those who have previously been admitted to the U.Southward. every bit lawful permanent residents and have maintained their status — their dark-green cards can't exist revoked without a hearing earlier an immigration approximate. Visa holders and tourists from visa waiver countries, however, run the risk of being denied entry if they pass up to provide a password, and they should consider that risk before deciding how to go on. If an officer searches and/or confiscates your laptop or cell telephone, go a receipt for your holding.

For more communication on electronic device searches at the border, click here: https://world wide web.aclu.org/blog/free-future/tin can-edge-agents-search-your-electronic-devices-its-complicated

What if I am selected for a strip search at the border?

A strip search at the border is not a routine search. It must exist supported past "reasonable suspicion" and must be done in a individual area.

What types of law enforcement officers and other regime officials could I come across during the security screening procedure at the airport?

At airports, Transportation Security Assistants (TSA) officers deport security screenings.  Almost TSA officers are non commissioned constabulary enforcement officers, and their role is to comport screening of passengers, baggage and cargo. TSA screeners can search you and your baggage at screening checkpoints, but they cannot abort you. Other constabulary enforcement officers, such every bit airport police, are nowadays at airports.

What if I wear a religious caput roofing and I am selected by airport security officials for additional screening?

You have the right to habiliment your religious caput roofing. You should assert your right to clothing your religious head covering if asked to remove information technology before going through airdrome security screening. If an alarm goes off, however, airport security officers may asking additional screening. They may then conduct a pat-downward of your religious head covering or enquire you to remove it. You have the right to request that the pat-down or removal be conducted by a person of your gender and that it occurs in a private area.

If yous exercise non want the TSA officer to touch your religious head covering, you must turn down and say that yous would prefer to pat downward your own religious caput covering. Yous will and then be taken aside, and a TSA officer will supervise y'all every bit y'all pat downward your religious head covering. Subsequently the pat-down, the TSA officer may rub your hands with a small cotton textile and place it in a machine to test for chemical residue. If y'all laissez passer this chemical residue test, you should be immune to proceed to your flight. If the TSA officeholder insists on the removal of your religious head covering, you have a right to ask that it be done in a private expanse. Officers may not conduct additional screening based solely on your race, national origin, religion, gender, ethnicity, or political behavior.

What if I am traveling with children?

You lot may opt your children out of an airport scan. Nevertheless, at that place is no exemption for children from the pat-downward search. Children nether 13 years old may exit their shoes, light jackets, and headwear on during screening.

What if I am traveling with chest milk or formula?

Parents and caregivers flying with and without children are permitted to bring breast milk and formula (and ice packs or other accessories required to cool the breast milk or formula) in quantities greater than 3 ounces, as long as y'all notify the officers most the items at the security checkpoint. When carrying breast milk or formula through the checkpoint, they will be inspected. TSA officials may examination the liquids for explosives. TSA officials may ask you to open the containers during the screening process. Chest milk and formula, along with other liquids and gels, may also be packed in your baggage and checked with your airline.

If I am on an airplane, tin can an airline employee interrogate me or enquire me to get off the plane?

An airline pilot may refuse to fly a passenger if s/he reasonably believes, based on observation, that the passenger is a threat to flying safety. A pilot may not, however, question you or decline to allow you on a flight because of biased stereotypes, including any based on your faith, race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, or political behavior.

What do I practice if I am questioned by constabulary enforcement officers every time I travel past air and I believe I am on a "no-fly" or other "national security" list?

If you believe y'all are mistakenly on a list, you should contact the TSA and file an inquiry using the Traveler Redress Inquiry Program. More than data is available here. If you remember in that location may be some reason for why you lot have been placed on a list, you should seek the advice of an attorney.