Pascal Abidor was taking a train to visit his girlfriend. Unfortunately, that train crosses the US/Canadian border where border patrol officers claim they are not subject to the normal rules of law. They can check anyone at any time for any reason. Unfortunately, Pascal Abidor is also a doctoral candidate in Islamic Studies. A normal person would have not spent hours questioning him. They would have verified his studies and concluded that the single picture of Hamas on his computer was, indeed, academically related. Instead, Pascal Abidor’s life has taken a turn for the worse as he cannot go anywhere in or near the US without hassle due to the undereducated border patrol officers.

“I have no control over who I am anymore,” he told The Associated Press recently. “What I do with my life doesn’t matter. How I am perceived and how I want to be perceived are not connected anymore.”

Abidor has sued the Department of Homeland Security, saying the border agents had no right to go through his computer files without a warrant. The Department of Homeland Security said Abidor’s case was under investigation and would not comment on it.

But in court documents responding to the lawsuit, the government asserts that border agents “are not subject to any requirement of reasonable suspicion, probable cause or warrant.” It also says that computers are like “closed containers” and that border agents have the right to search and copy them without a warrant.

“Abidor offers no reason why a different standard should apply to him,” government lawyers wrote.

Different standards should not only apply to Abidor, they should apply to everyone. There is no reason way that a border patrol agent could possibly know what is on someone’s laptop. If the person is simply riding on the train or arriving via plane and they are not under suspicion, then their laptops should never be turned on or searched. Abidor is not only suing for himself, he’s suing for every single person who is harassed by the DHS and its underlings.