Dallas attorney asks Supreme Court to end warrantless phone searches

Dallas, Texas; August 17, 2026: A Dallas immigration attorney whose cell phone has been searched without a warrant five times at the U.S. border has asked the Supreme Court to end warrantless phone searches. George Anibowei filed a petition for a writ of certiorari on Friday, asking the justices to resolve a deep split among federal appeals courts over whether border agents need a warrant to search a traveler’s phone.

“Americans don’t surrender their Fourth Amendment rights at the border,” said Amy Peikoff, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “A cell phone holds the sum of a person’s private life, and the Constitution protects that information from a warrantless search. Protections for constitutional rights should not depend on whether one chooses to travel internationally or which port of entry they use.”

“The border is not a Constitution-free zone. Travelers, including attorneys like Mr. Anibowei, have been forced to surrender their digital privacy at the customs line. We are asking the Supreme Court to ensure that the same warrant protections apply to every American, regardless of which port of entry they use,” said Kassandra Gonzalez, a senior attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Border agents first searched Anibowei’s phone in October 2016, copying everything that was on the device. The government still has that data today. Four more warrantless searches followed in subsequent years, including one that kept Anibowei in secondary inspection for three hours while an agent scrolled through his texts, emails, and messaging apps. Because he represents immigrants in deportation proceedings, his phone holds privileged client communications, and he now leaves it behind whenever he travels abroad.

Anibowei filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on August 14, asking the Court to decide whether the Constitution requires government agents to secure a warrant to search cell phones at the border. Federal appeals courts are split on the question: six circuits hold that a warrant is never needed, while two hold that a warrant is generally required. A ruling for Anibowei would resolve that split and confirm the same warrant protections that apply to a phone search anywhere else in the country apply at the border, too.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Anibowei free of charge, as co-counsel alongside Trial Lawyers for Justice, the Texas Civil Rights Project, and Arnold & Porter. The case is George Anibowei v. Todd Blanche.