WESLACO – A case against U.S. Customs and Border Protection is working its way through court.

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the government for an excessive search of electronic devices at border crossings and airports.

According to the lawsuit, CBP searched the phones and laptops of more than 33,000 international travelers in 2018, which is an increase of almost 400% from three years earlier.

The ACLU says that’s a violation of the 4^th Amendment – unreasonable search and seizure.

KRGV’s Taylor Winkel explains why there’s a lawsuit even though the government says they have the right to search your devices without a warrant.

A 2018 CBP policy allows two kinds of searches: basic and advanced.

The basic search allows officers to search through a device manually; the advanced search involves the officer connecting the device to equipment to review and sometimes copy the contents.

Watch the video above for the full story.