Gaby Del Valle

The answer is: it depends. Your immigration status dictates some of your rights to refuse device searches at airports and other ports of entry. Citizens — and in many cases, permanent residents — can’t be denied entry for saying no to a search, but people with visas can. Regardless of your status, we have some advice on how to safeguard your data before traveling.

Palantir also put together FAQs to help staff explain their work to friends and family, and its “Ethics Education Program Lead” is circulating links to internal company pages like:

Mahdawi, who was involved in Columbia’s pro-Palestine protests, reportedly faces deportation under the same law being used to target other student protesters. He’s also been targeted by Canary Mission, a pro-Israel group compiling “deportation lists” for Trump.

“I tell them, ‘I know you can take my phone. I’m not going to give you my phone, however ... 90% of my work is on my phone. You’re not getting unfettered access,” he said. “We have an obligation as lawyers to stand up to this stuff.”

Agents looked through Makled’s contacts list but ultimately returned his phone.