Felony charges for a US citizen who deleted his phone data at the border

The New York Times published an interview on 21 August with Samuel Tunick, a US citizen facing federal charges for destroying the contents of his phone during a border search. According to the paper, Tunick, 30, was returning to the United States in January 2025 from a vacation in the Dominican Republic when he was pulled aside during a customs search at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

What happened

Customs and Border Protection officers wanted to search his phone. After questioning, he turned it over but gave officers a passcode that then erased the contents of his Google Pixel, and federal prosecutors in Atlanta have charged him with obstruction as a result. The Times describes his prosecution as one of the earliest known instances of federal authorities charging a person with destroying evidence using a program designed to wipe a device clean after a specific code is entered.

Tunick is a musician who has taught at a Jewish day school and tutored students; he is also a graduate student in geography at Georgia State University and, in the paper's description, a left-wing activist.

The government's position

"Obstructing federal law enforcement is a serious matter that has serious repercussions," Theodore Hertzberg, the US attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said in a statement. "Individuals who destroy or attempt to destroy property, including data, to prevent lawful search and seizure should expect to face prosecution and punishment for their actions." A Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman said the agency has authority to search the electronic devices of anyone entering or leaving the country regardless of citizenship, and that it examined devices belonging to fewer than 0.01 percent of arriving international travelers in the last fiscal year.

NSPM-7 and a watch list

Tunick says he has been ensnared by National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, a directive issued by President Trump last September that expanded the definition of domestic terrorism to include crimes such as getting in the way of immigration enforcement. He also says federal authorities secretly placed him on a watch list, without any input from a judge or a jury.

The personal cost

In the interview he describes up to five years in prison hanging over him, having to obtain a judge's approval to leave the Northern District of Georgia, and being forced to surrender his passport while his family lives on the West Coast. He says he hopes his defense sends the message that "the government doesn't own our data" and that the right to privacy has to be defended.