If you're uneasy about traveling to the States this year to attend HOPE, you're not alone. The current political administration in the U.S. has led to some uncertainty, along with new risks, for international travelers. We will not try to trivialize them and we encourage you to only do what you're comfortable doing.
If you decide not to travel, you can still support and be a part of HOPE by getting a virtual ticket.
HOPE has reached out to the ACLU and EFF to identify some good information resources and best practices for people traveling to HOPE from outside of the U.S.
People who are not citizens of the U.S. can face additional challenges.
Fundamentally, citizens have a right to enter the U.S. But even so, officials at border crossings can force device searches and delays before admitting citizens back to the U.S.
Non-citizens do not have a right to enter the U.S. and can be denied entry and subsequently deported to their point of origin or elsewhere. For citizens and non-citizens, there can be delays, supplemental searches, seizures of electronic devices, and more.
HOPE strongly encourages anyone traveling to the U.S., for HOPE or other purposes, to review these resources:
Border search guide from the EFF, including the pocket guide.
The EFF also has a guide specifically for international students. Among other things, this guide highlights the risk that social media postings and other free speech can be used as a basis for denying entry to the U.S., or result in having student visas revoked.
The EFF's primary digital security resource covers Surveillance Self Defense in detail.
The ACLU has this guide on search and seizure of electronic devices at the border. The main takeaway from from this is: Yes, your devices can be seized, cloned, inspected, etc., and you can be forced to provide any needed passcode, password, biometric ID, etc. to unlock the device. This applies to US citizens and non-citizens, and can happen before you are admitted to the U.S.
In our discussion with the ACLU, they stressed that at points of entry to the United States (e.g., an airport or land crossing), the government can engage in searches and seizures of your property without any suspicion of wrongdoing, and you will not be able to contact an attorney until you are either admitted or, if you're a non-citizen, denied entry.
What this all means for HOPE attendees is that traveling to the U.S. is increasingly risky for citizens and non-citizens, due to the threat of being denied entry (for non-citizens), having devices searched and/or seized, and for prior free speech to result in adverse outcomes.
