The numbers you saw were originally provided by the U.S. government, but they have since revised them downward, which explains the discrepancy between the 23,000 and the 19,000. Nonetheless, even with the revision downward, it's clear that there's been a sharp spike.
We have been pushing for change on this on a number of fronts. One is, of course, litigation, which in U.S courts is pending at various levels and is often coming up in a criminal context where there is a criminal prosecution and someone is challenging the search of their phone that happened at a border. It is possible that litigation will lead to a higher standard that is required for searches—some level of suspicion.
Notably, there has been one appeals court decision, from the ninth circuit, one of the western circuit courts, which did impose a reasonable suspicion requirement for forensic searches, namely, searches that take place off-site and are the more invasive searches. We have been seeking records of compliance with that decision and so far have gotten no evidence that there has been any change in policy to acknowledge at least this higher level of suspicion, but litigation continues and is a priority.
The second area is legislation. There has been domestic legislation introduced. It would require a warrant for searches of devices, but only for U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, so it would provide no protections to Canadians who are visiting. That's not contemplated by this bill.
The last is our push for transparency. We think the numbers aren't enough. Specifically, we think we need to know the nationalities of individuals searched and the reasons given. It's hard to ascertain a pattern of why particular individuals might have their phones searched or not, especially when there is that policy allowing for suspicionless searches.