In response to an inquiry from Cyrus Farivar of web site ARS Technica, Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) spokesman acknowledged that CBP has conducted more searches of electronic devices such as smart phones, laptops and tablets in February of 2017 alone – 5,000 – than in all of calendar 2015.
The article can found found at:https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/03/digital-device-searches-at-u….
While still presented as representing just over a half of one percent of arrivals, the increase is dramatic.
In fairness, this represents a trend that began under the last administration, with a five-fold increase in electronic device searches upon entry during calendar 2016 over 2015.