Multimedia journalist held for an hour by US border officers at LA airport

A freelance multimedia journalist was held in secondary screening for an hour and told that officers couldn’t find them in “the system,” while passing through U.S. customs in Los Angeles, California, on May 11, 2025.

The journalist, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for further issues while traversing the border for ongoing reporting, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they have been traveling extensively between Mexico City and LA for work on “a lot of immigration stories.”

Two months prior, they were questioned about their immigration reporting when arriving at LA International Airport. Following that experience, they said they took precautionary steps ahead of their next flight to the U.S.

“I had deleted a lot of sensitive apps and contacts off my phone, powered off my phone, powered off my computer. I’d written down the Reporters hotline on a piece of paper,” they said, referring to the legal hotline of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

When they arrived and passed through U.S. customs at LAX, the newly implemented facial recognition cameras failed to confirm their identity. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer asked them a standard array of questions and then directed them to a secondary screening room.

“At that point, I just thought, I don’t really know what’s going on, but it just all felt a little uncomfortable because I am a U.S. citizen. I do have a passport, it’s up to date, no expiration,” they told the Tracker. “But then again, since the situation was kind of intimidating, I didn’t want to question them too much. When you’re in those screening rooms, that’s it. You’re in a different area, and what you say or what you do, it’s not going to have much power there.”

After approximately an hour waiting, a CBP officer returned their passport and told them, “We couldn’t find you in the system for a while. You have a very common last name, but don’t worry, you’re an American citizen, so you can go ahead and leave.”

The journalist said they had never had an issue before, with years of international travel, and it was particularly concerning that it happened on the heels of being questioned about their reporting.

“It just seems odd that in this year there’s been that slight escalation of asking these questions initially and then the second time around, they kind of just stopped me for no good reason,” they said. “The whole thing just put me a little on edge, because I don’t know what sort of internal documentation or tabs that they keep on people.

“My main takeaway was just that none of this really adds up. And I just want to be prepared for the next time I go across the border."