Over the Past year, United States Customs and Border Protection staff searched more phones and electronic devices at the border than ever before, according to new statistics published by the government agency. Phone searches jumped around 17 percent during the past 12 months—with a marked increase over the past six months.

Newly published CBP figures show that for the full fiscal year of 2025—running from October 2024 to the end of September 2025—border agents conducted around 55,424 searches of electronic devices. This is up from around the 47,000 searches that were completed during the government’s 2024 fiscal year.

While the number of phone searches is small compared to the millions of people entering the United States each year, the increase comes amid the Trump administration’s

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