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If you're willing to destroy the data to prevent it being read, why not just wipe the phone before you leave and restore it from an encrypted online backup when you arrive?

Arriving with "empty phone" has also caused refusal of permission to enter in the past.

How do you honestly think that will go down for you or anybody else that tries it, telling a federal officer that you just destroyed the thing they asked you to open?

I'm pretty sure they can. And they will probably successfully argue that since you did destroy evidence, you were hiding something.