Eleven people whose phones and laptops were searched at United States airports and at the nation’s northern border are suing the Department of Homeland Security, joining a growing chorus of critics who say the forced inspections are invasive and unlawful.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, claims the plaintiffs’ First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated when United States agents searched, and in some cases confiscated, their devices without a warrant. The government has said those searches happen to fewer than one-hundredth of one percent of international travelers, and that they are authorized by the same laws that allow border agents to look through suitcases without a judge’s approval.

But privacy activists say the laws, which were crafted with luggage in mind, shouldn’t apply to digital devices that contain vast amounts of personal data related to the device owners and others they have contacted.

“I felt humiliated and violated,” Diane Maye, a professor, former Air Force captain and one of the plaintiffs, said in an interview.