They don't right off the bat search your phone. Rather it's if the questions they ask don't match up exactly, or you mention other red flags. Canada and a few o

They don't right off the bat search your phone. Rather it's if the questions they ask don't match up exactly, or you mention other red flags. Canada and a few other countries do it too. It's not forced, as if you decline, you'll just be denied entry. You could consider that forced, but at that point, the officer has already decided that he doesn't believe you, and you're not entering the US until you can prove it. It's actually very common for people to come in on a tourist visa and find work. They figure out if you're likely to do that when they ask "what do you do for a living?," "do you have any family in the US," "how much money do you currently have access to?," or if you're staying for longer than they deem reasonable, like a 90 day vacation with $1000 in your bank account. If they don't believe your answers, they ask for proof, like a return ticket, or possibly your text messages/emails. They can call contacts that you said you were going to visit too. The show has shown a few successful findings from emails, people with emails from clients in the US arranging in-person visits (regarding contractors who can't work in the US) are common. As are people trying to permanently immigrate illegally, as they talk with their family in the US their plans via SMS. I'm not trying to argue for this practice, and I'm all for making borders less closed off and open. I'm just saying the justification given by the government for it. Especially since the current administration is hard-set on stopping illegal immigration, and the majority of illegal immigrants actually come here legally, and overstay and work illegally.