The young woman from Fort Lauderdale (identified only by her first name in this story to safeguard her identity) says she'd just scanned her face on a facial recognition kiosk when an officer asked her to step aside and began asking questions: where was she coming from? (Spain.) What did she do for work? (She is a social media content creator.)
She says the officers eventually escorted her to another room, and then to a separate area downstairs, where they continued to press her on other topics — like her father's U.S. immigration status (he's a U.S. citizen who was born in Panama) and her proof of income from TikTok — before taking her phone and searching through her TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts.
The young woman watched as the officers scrolled through her TikTok feed and her Instagram stories, which displayed her travels.
"That's when I realized...holy shit," she tells New Times. "This is way different from any search I've ever had."
Sav, who is a U.S. citizen, is part of a growing number of travelers who've recently found themselves unexpectedly detained by CBP as part of the Trump administration's aggressive immigration crackdown.
There's been a recent surge in reports of foreign visitors, U.S. visa holders, and even citizens who federal officials have detained, questioned, and deported at the border and airports — fueling anxiety ahead of the summer travel season.
In March, a Canadian woman who was reapplying for a U.S. work visa was detained without explanation at the Mexican border and spent 12 days in detention before returning home. In April, federal agents at Detroit Metro Airport detained and questioned an attorney for a University of Michigan pro-Palestine protester about his clients and asked him to surrender his cell phone.
In recent weeks, multiple travelers have also reported officials questioning or downright turning them away at the U.S. border about content on their phones. (CBP doesn't need a warrant to search the phones of any travelers arriving at the U.S. border, including airports.)
While Sav says that she'd heard anecdotally about people facing trouble with immigration officials over their anti-Donald Trump stances, she couldn't quite wrap her mind around it.
"I didn't necessarily believe these people. Like, we have free speech. Why would this be possible?" she asks. "Until this literally happened to me coming into the United States."
According to Sav, CBP stopped at least six other passengers on her flight at the Miami Airport that evening, but they held her the longest. She noted that most of them didn't appear to be U.S. citizens.
She suspects that her detention by CBP might be related to her anti-Trump brand, Trump For The Dump, through which she sells sweatshirts with slogans like "FUCK TRUMP, and fuck you for voting for him" and "ELECT A CLOWN, EXPECT A CIRCUS," the latter of which features images of Trump, Elon Musk, and vice president JD Vance beneath red-and-white striped circus tents. She donates the proceeds to organizations supporting LGBTQ+ rights, HBCUs, immigrants, Ukraine, and Palestine.
"My only guess, literally, is the anti-Trump stuff," she says.
A crewneck for sale on the website features a graphic of a cartoon Trump inside a dumpster.
Screenshot via trumpforthedump.com
While Sav says she had tentative plans to leave the country next month for her birthday, she's now worried whether she will be allowed to return to the U.S. if she leaves again.
"Which is crazy, because I don't have another citizenship elsewhere," she says. "This is the only place I'm a citizen."
Sav says that since then, dozens of people have reached out via TikTok to report similar experiences — including at least two who described similar incidents at the Miami Airport.
Her main takeaway?
"I guess just people need to be careful with their social media if they are anti-Trump, and especially if they have people in their family who are immigrants," she says. "Regardless of whether they're citizens or not."
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on May 12, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security responded to a TikTok video in which Sav described her recent experience at Miami Airport, calling it a "routine, lawful process that occurs daily and can apply to any traveler."
"FALSE: Claims that her political beliefs triggered the inspection are baseless," the statement reads. "Our officers are following the law, not agendas."FALSE: Claims that her political beliefs triggered the inspection are baseless. Our officers are following the law, not agendas.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) May 12, 2025
Upon entering the country, this individual was referred for further inspection — a routine, lawful process that occurs daily, and can apply for any… https://t.co/qvkZKMXvBD
