When you enter the USA or the UK, before you are granted admission by the passport officer, you exist in an uneasy legal limbo. You are technically outside the rule of domestic law, and your civil rights don’t quite exist. Smartphones, laptops, and personal electronics are all subject to search and seizure at the border. Bags can and will be searched. Body cavities can be searched. So if you are an illegal, carrying any equipment on the job will cause you to run an unacceptable risk of exposure.
