Last week, attorney Andrew Lattarulo was on his way home from Aruba when his iPhone 15 Pro Max was seized by Homeland Security and Border Control agents at Boston Logan International Airport. Perhaps un-coincidentally, Lattarulo is a well-known immigration in the Boston area — his clients include the father of a 4-month old whose arrest by ICE drew public scrutiny — and has a popular social media presence that calls out problematic practices of immigration agents and is critical of Donald Trump’s policies.
As a result, he filed a lawsuit alleging violations of his First and Fourth Amendment rights. Lattarulo also filed an emergency motion seeking a temporary restraining order blocking the search of his phone and its return, as it contains confidential client information, as well as privileged information between himself and other attorneys. As stated in the motion, “The seizure was made eight hours after plaintiff had been inspected by United States Customs and Border Protection at a border crossing. Plaintiff’s phone was unlawfully seized and most likely searched in violation of plaintiff’s First and Fourth Amendments, and the constitutional rights of his clients.”
District of Massachusetts Judge Allison D. Burroughs granted the TRO, barring the government from searching the phone or analyzing any data that may have already been collected.
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Lattarulo’s attorneys, Mary Lemay and Patrick Hanley from Butters Brazilian, said, “We believe attorney Lattarulo was targeted because he represents clients in immigration-related proceedings, and he has amplified the government’s own enforcement priorities via social media to immigrant communities and anyone else who might be interested.”
“Public criticism of our government is protected speech under the First Amendment. We initiated this suit to protect not only attorney Lattarulo’s constitutional rights, but also those of his clients.”
But this early success may not translate to ultimate victory. In 2021, Texas immigration attorney Adam A. Malik had his phone seized by border agents. The Fifth Circuit ruled DHS’s use of a filter team to sort out any privileged materials was sufficient to protect Malik’s clients, and that the government’s asserted connection between the attorney and an arms dealer created probable cause even if Malik is correct that the connection “appears dubious in hindsight.”
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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Mastodon @[email protected].