I love the geography of the US, and it has some truly stunning places to visit.
But they're not so stunning that I need to risk my freedom - risk my freedom - to visit them in person.
I don't agree with the premise that the US makes entry for normal tourists particularly onerous though.
According to the ACLU I think this person would have been better off saying little and not wiping their phone.
https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/what-do-when-encounter...
Plus, unless GrapheneOS gets encryption wrong (which I doubt), cloning the memory to get the data isn't really a thing.
They also would not allow me access to a lawyer during questioning or imprisonment.
Another woman was at the same port of entry, was raped to "check for drugs", sued, and lost. Apparently raping is a legal way to search for drugs (that were not there).
If it's your own, that's harder to do – time to fight and change the system before it gets worse and will swallow you whole.