The real lesson here is Lemmy/Reddit is no substitution for a lawyer. ACLU spells it out but in the end there are a lot of circumstances that apply.

Ultimately, if you’re a US Citizen, and that’s not in question, they can only take your stuff, they can’t arrest you.

Ars interviewed an attorney about this…

“For a US citizen, CBP essentially has to let them back into the country,” Nathan Freed Wessler, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told Ars. “They can’t be detained indefinitely for refusing to provide a password. They may be detained for hours and they may seize the phone for weeks or months while [CBP tries] to break into it.”

So, take it however you will.

For what it’s worth I’ve done a bit over 1.6 million air miles on Delta for work and have the silly keychain tag to prove it, and the only time customs has ever given me shit was at YYZ, the Canadians are no joke if you come in on a US passport, and you’d better have proof you’re not coming there for 3 days to do a job that a Canadian could do. In my case I was training some Canadians but People Ops were kind enough not to get me the paperwork I needed.

Most big companies have training for their international travelers as well, the ones I’ve worked with always say to surrender passwords and equipment, and contact SecOps to let them know as soon as you safely can, some even have nice systems that print out invitation letters and proof of ownership for equipment including serial numbers.

Edit: CBP is NOT a court order to provide a password. If a court orders it and you refuse, well that’s contempt, and the list of people who’ve sat in prison refusing is no joke.

If you’re a US citizen they’ll just seize it and send it in for forensics.

While they can make your life miserable, and revoke any entry programs you’re a member of, they can’t prevent a citizen from crossing the border. Only the stuff you carry.