Immigration lawyer critical of ICE has phone seized at MA airport, lawsuit says
A Massachusetts immigration attorney is without his business phone after agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations seized the device for a search at Boston Logan International Airport, according to a federal lawsuit.
Inside the airport on Sept. 28, three uniformed CBP agents and one HSI agent waited for Andrew Lattarulo to exit his flight from Aruba, the lawsuit says.
Once Lattarulo reached the gate, they surrounded him and said they were conducting a border search, according to the complaint. The agents were seizing his phone but refused to share why, the lawsuits says.
Lattarulo, who represents thousands of clients in immigration cases, was warned his device would be physically taken if he refused to hand it over.
Now he is suing the government to get his phone back, as his device contains sensitive information about his clients and their immigration proceedings.
One day after he filed the lawsuit, a federal judge granted his motion for a temporary restraining order, ruling on Oct. 3 that agents cannot search or continue to search Lattarulo’s phone.
District Judge Allison D. Burroughs, in granting the temporary restraining order, also ruled that the government cannot use any data gathered from Lattarulo’s device.
Lattarulo argues his phone was taken because of his immigration-related work and public criticisms of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s actions carried out under the Trump administration.
He speaks out against what he believes are illegal immigration tactics on Instagram, via an account that is popular with the Boston-area immigrant community, according to his lawsuit. In videos shared to the platform, he also shares information on immigrant rights.
“Public criticism of our government is protected speech under the First Amendment,” Mary Lemay and Patrick Hanley, attorneys representing Lattarulo, , said in a statement shared with McClatchy News on Oct. 9. “We initiated this suit to protect not only Attorney Lattarulo’s constitutional rights, but also those of his clients.”
In an emailed statement to McClatchy News on Oct. 9, a DHS spokesperson said “all travelers crossing the United States border are subject to CBP inspection.”
“On rare occasions, officers/agents may search a traveler’s mobile phone, or other electronic devices during the inspection process,” the spokesperson added. “CBP has established strict guidelines, above and beyond prevailing legal requirements, to ensure that these searches are exercised judiciously and responsibly and are consistent with the public trust.”
Stopped at the airport
The seizure of Lattarulo’s phone happened 19 days after he shared a social media video criticizing “Operation Patriot 2.0,” an ICE operation in Massachusetts, the lawsuit says.
On Sept. 28, before Lattarulo boarded his JetBlue flight to Boston, he cleared a CBP travel inspection at an airport in Oranjestad, Aruba, according to the complaint.
Despite passing the CBP inspection, he was detained upon arriving in Boston by CBP and HSI agents, the complaint says.
Lattarulo had been with his brother, who filmed part of the encounter, according to the complaint, which says one of the agents told him he could not film, but his brother “disregarded this unlawful statement out of concern for (Lattarulo’s) safety.”
When the agents told Lattarulo they were seizing his phone, Lattarulo explained it was his business device and that it “contained sensitive and confidential communications between himself and his clients, as well as privileged conversations between himself and other attorneys,” the filing says.
They “repeated that the seizure was standard procedure and that they did not need to provide him with a reason,” Lattarulo’s attorneys wrote in the complaint.
The agents had no reason to suspect Lattarulo had violated any laws, the lawsuit argues.
Lattarulo was also told his phone was to be searched, according to the complaint.
“The (agents’) actions indicated they were only interested in his business communication device — his phone,” the complaint says.
“Upon information and belief, this seizure was made in response to public statements Lattarulo made on U.S. immigration policy,” his attorneys wrote in the filing.
With the judge’s Oct. 3 order, the government is prohibited from searching Lattarulo’s business phone, pending a hearing. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 20, court records show.
“We are pleased that the United States District Court has kept the restraining order in place and has prevented the government from using confidential and privileged information against Attorney Lattarulo’s clients,” Lemay and Hanley said.
Can border agents search your phone?
CBP says it has the authority to search all “persons, baggage, and merchandise,” including electronic devices, “arriving in, or departing from” the U.S.
“Border searches are conducted in furtherance of CBP’s statutory responsibilities and to ensure compliance with federal laws that CBP enforces or administers at the border and in support of its immigration, customs, agriculture, and counterterrorism missions,” reads a CBP tear sheet revised in April 2023.
The issue of whether it is legal for border agents to conduct warrantless searches of phones and other devices is a complex question that has yet to be settled by the Supreme Court, according to the ACLU of Texas.
As a result, the organization advises a few precautions for traveling with electronics, including traveling with “as little data and as few devices as possible” and making sure devices are encrypted with strong passwords.
This story was originally published October 9, 2025 at 12:34 PM.
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