{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-holds-hearing-dhs-searching-smartphones-without-warrant/", "Dr. Rand Paul Holds Hearing on DHS Searching Smartphones Without a Warrant", "2018-07-11", "2018", "2018-07", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:\n\nJuly 11, 2018\n\nContact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Earlier today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management (FSO) Subcommittee for the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), held a hearing entitled, \u201cExamining Warrantless Smartphone Searches at the Border.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think that most Americans could agree that it\u2019s reasonable to let customs officials search suitcases for contraband. What\u2019s unreasonable is that the government lawyers want you to believe that there\u2019s no difference between a suitcase and a smartphone. I disagree, and here again, I think most Americans would, too,\u201d Dr. Paul said in his opening statement.\n\nCurrently, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policies permit customs and border authorities to seize and search American citizens\u2019 smartphones and other digital devices when they travel internationally to and from the United States, without a warrant or suspicion of wrongdoing.\n\nThe FSO subcommittee heard testimony regarding the history of this so-called \u201cborder search exception\u201d to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment and evaluated the far-reaching privacy implications of DHS\u2019 policy of allowing customs and border officials to seize and search the digital devices of international travelers without a warrant.\n\n\u201cThere are no statutory limits on who can see this information, how long it can be kept, or how it can be used, and there is no special protection provided for sensitive material, political material, client-attorney privilege, trade secrets, medical information, or materials otherwise privileged under the law,\u201d Georgetown Law Professor Laura Donohue noted in her testimony.\n\nIn April 2017, Dr. Paul joined U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) in introducing the Protecting Data at the Border Act (S. 823) to stop this violation of Americans\u2019 Fourth Amendment rights and prevent government officials from requiring Americans to disclose sensitive information on their digital lives in order to leave or re-enter the country.\n\nYou can find video from today\u2019s hearing HERE.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-06-27T23:02:18Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-holds-hearing-dhs-searching-smartphones-without-warrant/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0967720299959183, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}