"A non-American who is asked to hand over their devices and passwords is faced with the dilemma of protecting their privacy or potentially being denied entry to

"A non-American who is asked to hand over their devices and passwords is faced with the dilemma of protecting their privacy or potentially being denied entry to the US." Odds are that if DHS or CBP agents ask any non-citizen for the ability to search their devices that person isn't getting let into the country no matter what and the agents are just looking for evidence to validate whatever suspicion they have. This guy was selected for secondary inspection. Now I'm not sure if that selection was random or if it was pre-determined for when he showed up at the airport. If it was pre-determined and he was flagged for inspection, there's very little chance he's getting through at all. If it was random and he declined to give them the passwords to search his devices, the agents might have no choice but to allow him through since there is no cause for suspicion. I'm not really sure what the law is in this regard or the DHS/CBP policies. That being said, in almost any scenario it seems the best course of action is not to comply because you think that if you do they are going to let you in. The best course of action is almost always to refuse to give your passwords. Let's also not forget that the article says they kept the passwords for future use! That's bad enough by itself. I have no idea why this guy didn't treat his accounts, passwords, and device as compromised and take appropriate action. That was dumb on his part. As soon as a government agent gets their hands on an unlocked device, inserts anything into a port, or the device leaves your sight while in their possession it should be considered compromised. No exceptions. While I do acknowledge and support the US retaining the right to deny anyone access to their country, which is a right of all sovereign nations - it really leaves a bad taste when they don't reimburse travelers for their flights when they are either denied entrance or were allowed entrance but missed the flight due to abnormal detainment times. That can get really tricky, though, because then you face issues like having to reimburse people who are denied entrance for very valid reasons. I'm not sure how to fix that problem, but it's definitely an issue.