Atlanta Activist Faces Prison for Phone Data Deletion

Samuel Tunick, an activist associated with the “Stop Cop City” movement, was stopped by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on January 24, 2025, after returning from the Dominican Republic. He was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly deleting data from his Google Pixel phone to obstruct government access.

His lawyers, Melissa McGrane and Joseph Austin from the Federal Defender Program, argue that his constitutional rights were violated during the secondary inspection, where he was questioned and searched without receiving Miranda warnings. Officers claimed they suspected Tunick had child pornography on his phone but later admitted there was no basis for this suspicion.

Tunick eventually provided the phone's passcode, which allegedly caused the phone's contents to be erased. His attorney, Matthew Dodge, stated that the government's interest was Tunick's connection to the Defend the Atlanta Forest movement, opposing the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

The case raises significant questions about the limits of border authorities' search powers.