They don't have to have probable cause to search your truck, on either side of the border. They can also just take your computer and smartphone if they want, without even reasonable suspicion.
It's called the "border search exemption" (or border search doctrine) and allows US Customs and Border Protection officers, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agents, and US Coast Guard officers who are customs officers enforcing Title 19 of the US Code with the Department of Homeland Security, to search travelers and their belongings at the American border without probable cause or warrant. Customs officers may generally stop and search the property of any traveler entering or exiting the United States at random, or even based on ethnic profiles. More more invasive searches or seizures of a person's body (but not their vehicle) beyond a routine search requires some suspicion. More invasive searches or seizures include strip searches, body cavity searches, x-rays, or detention beyond that which is reasonable for a routine search.
At the border, customs officers are authorized to search all travelers' closed containers (including vehicles) without any level of suspicion. That authority extends to all physical containers, regardless of size or the possible presence of personal, confidential or embarrassing materials. The same authority allows Customs to open and search incoming international mail.
The border search exception only applies at the border, though. Despite the federal law that allows federal Customs and US Border agents to conduct suspicionless search and seizures within 100 miles of the border, the Supreme Court has clearly and repeatedly confirmed that the border search exception applies only at international borders and their functional equivalent (such as international airports).
I don't go to Canada anymore, but when I did I got searched thoroughly the first time I went into Ontario, but never after that in Ontario. I also got searched thoroughly by Canadian Customs and interviewed thoroughly the first time I crossed the border into a new province. The first time in Quebec, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia. But never was searched or interviewed again in any subsequent crossings into those provinces.
Coming back into the US, though, that's another story. I got searched and/or x-rayed about every 10th time I crossed back into the US. One time in Sweetgrass, MT they searched me at the border before I left the US and went into Canada. Sheesh.
It's called the "border search exemption" (or border search doctrine) and allows US Customs and Border Protection officers, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agents, and US Coast Guard officers who are customs officers enforcing Title 19 of the US Code with the Department of Homeland Security, to search travelers and their belongings at the American border without probable cause or warrant. Customs officers may generally stop and search the property of any traveler entering or exiting the United States at random, or even based on ethnic profiles. More more invasive searches or seizures of a person's body (but not their vehicle) beyond a routine search requires some suspicion. More invasive searches or seizures include strip searches, body cavity searches, x-rays, or detention beyond that which is reasonable for a routine search.
At the border, customs officers are authorized to search all travelers' closed containers (including vehicles) without any level of suspicion. That authority extends to all physical containers, regardless of size or the possible presence of personal, confidential or embarrassing materials. The same authority allows Customs to open and search incoming international mail.
The border search exception only applies at the border, though. Despite the federal law that allows federal Customs and US Border agents to conduct suspicionless search and seizures within 100 miles of the border, the Supreme Court has clearly and repeatedly confirmed that the border search exception applies only at international borders and their functional equivalent (such as international airports).
I don't go to Canada anymore, but when I did I got searched thoroughly the first time I went into Ontario, but never after that in Ontario. I also got searched thoroughly by Canadian Customs and interviewed thoroughly the first time I crossed the border into a new province. The first time in Quebec, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia. But never was searched or interviewed again in any subsequent crossings into those provinces.
Coming back into the US, though, that's another story. I got searched and/or x-rayed about every 10th time I crossed back into the US. One time in Sweetgrass, MT they searched me at the border before I left the US and went into Canada. Sheesh.
