Border search exception

Few exceptions to the presumptive warrant and probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment are more firmly rooted than the border search exception. Pursuant to the right of the United States to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into the country, routine border searches are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border. Courts have recognized two different legal concepts for authorizing border searches away from the actual physical border: (1) searches at the functional equivalent of the border; and (2) extended border searches.

Courts have determined that border searches usually fall into two categories &mdash; routine and nonroutine. Generally, the distinction between “routine” and “nonroutine” turns on the level of intrusiveness. Routine border searches are usually very limited intrusions into a person’s privacy and require no suspicion of illegal activity to be upheld by a court. Nonroutine border searches must generally be supported by “reasonable suspicion” and can include destructive searches of inanimate objects, prolonged detentions, strip searches, body cavity searches, x-ray searches and laptop searches.