Sam Tunick's Airport Search Highlights Border Fourth Amendment Debate

Activist Sam Tunick, involved in the Stop Cop City movement, was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and the FBI at Atlanta International Airport after returning from the Dominican Republic. Without a warrant, agents searched his luggage, diary and demanded access to his phone. Tunick provided a passcode that erased the device’s contents and was later charged with a single count of destroying property to prevent seizure, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Tunick’s lawyers say CBP agents had no reasonable suspicion of child‑sex‑abuse material, despite initially claiming otherwise. CBP acknowledged there was no basis for that suspicion. Legal experts note the case could become a test of Fourth Amendment protections at U.S. borders, where courts have allowed searches without reasonable suspicion. "It’s not that the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply at the border," attorney Paul Calli told CNN, "it’s that there’s no requirement for reasonable suspicion."