To ensure the digital contents of electronic equipment and online accounts belonging to or in the possession of United States persons entering or exiting the United States are adequately protected at the border, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill, To ensure the digital contents of electronic equipment and online accounts belonging to or in the possession of United States persons entering or exiting the United States are adequately protected at the border, and for other purposes., changes federal law or congressional policy affecting immigrants, border agencies, and immigration-service providers. The main policy domain is Immigration, Criminal Justice, Government Operations.
Who Benefits and How
immigrants, border agencies, and immigration-service providers may benefit from new authority, funding, eligibility, regulatory clarity, or reduced risk created by the bill.
Who Bears the Burden and How
federal implementing agencies, immigrants, border agencies, and immigration-service providers may take on implementation duties, reporting obligations, compliance costs, or oversight responsibilities.
Key Provisions
- Section H5242E114AD634EA08A0ADC9CE1D5A953: 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Protecting Data at the Border Act.
- Section H1A9EB0D7F4774AD39950EA518158466F: 2. Findings Congress finds the following: United States persons have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the digital contents of their electronic equipment,...
- Section HF457AE3BCF2F4939975DCBB54CB5CC93: 3. Definitions As used in this Act— the term access credential includes a username, password, PIN number, fingerprint, or biometric indicator; the term border...
- Section H02AF4E00B1CF44BEBEDF84A9FD915957: 4. Procedures for lawful access to digital data at the border Subject to subsection (b), a Governmental entity may not— access the digital contents of any...
- Section H04AA6A1209A54B808B58F660AA87ADC9: 5. Limits on use of digital contents as evidence Whenever any digital contents or online account information have been obtained in violation of this Act, no...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
This bill, To ensure the digital contents of electronic equipment and online accounts belonging to or in the possession of United States persons entering or exiting the United States are adequately protected at the border, and for other purposes., changes federal law or congressional policy affecting immigrants, border agencies, and immigration-service providers.
Key Policy Areas
Immigration, Criminal Justice, Government Operations
Primary Purpose
This bill, To ensure the digital contents of electronic equipment and online accounts belonging to or in the possession of United States persons entering or exiting the United States are adequately protected at the border, and for other purposes., changes federal law or congressional policy affecting immigrants, border agencies, and immigration-service providers.
Policy Domains
Whole bill
Identified Gains
- immigrants, border agencies, and immigration-service providers
Identified Costs
- federal implementing agencies
- immigrants, border agencies, and immigration-service providers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Lieu (for himself, Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Norton, and Mr. …
Impact analysis is available but no clear stakeholder effects identified. View clause-level analysis →
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary_of_homeland_security"
- → Secretary of Homeland Security
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
the screen name or other identifier or information that would allow a Governmental entity to identify the online presence of an individual
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology