Are You on THE List? About DHS Watch-Lists & How to Get Off them

The scenario is always chillingly the same with little variation. You – typically a Pakistani or Arab American (although generally any Muslim will do) – have just finished a grueling transatlantic flight where you may have been doing anything from taking a European vacation, to visiting family, to doing business, etc. You are excited to be “back home” in the United States of America, which in many cases is the only country where you have citizenship. You expect a warm welcome from fellow Americans at the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) who seemed like really nice, warm people with big smiles on the airline’s on-board video describing customs procedures.

You get in line where it says “US citizens” and await your turn to have your passport stamped by the Customs agent. As you come up to his cubicle you are relieved to see that the smiles really are there. The agent greets you with a “Welcome home!” as he takes your passport. As he scans it, he asks you the typical questions: “Where were you? How long did you stay? What was the purpose of your visit?” The problem is that all of a sudden the smile disappears and they don’t really seem to be paying attention to your rambling on about the crazy drivers in Rome. They seem taken aback by some ominous message which appears to have come up on their computer. The poor agent in fact looks very distraught at whatever it is he sees. He reads it again to be sure. Then he tells you in a very serious voice, the smile long having faded, that you need to step to the wall or to the side and wait for another “agent”.

“Is there a problem?” you ask in a concerned voice. “No, just a random check,” comes the traditional reply. You are then led to a room by a not-so-smiley “agent” who clearly appears to have no interest in small talk. About all he does is reiterate the “random check” line you were given before. He leads you over to the luggage claim area and stands back while you reclaim all the luggage they will soon pore over with a fine tooth comb. After a tense 15 minutes awaiting your bags, you are then led to a room off to the side – in some cases behind an ominous one-way mirror – where you discover several other Muslims who have also been selected for this “random” humiliation and degradation. Concerned eyes of other passengers you accompanied on the plane follow you all the way until you are behind the one-way mirror.

You are gruffly told to take a seat by your latest handler for what looks like a long wait. As you scan the room, you are saddened by the terrified looks of hijabis in their 50s and 60s who look like they could be your mother. What could they have possibly done to be treated like this? For that matter, what could any of us have done? The “war on terror” takes more collateral damage it appears.

After a wait of anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour, the “agent” who brought you here asks you to come over to a steel table where they proceed to take every item out of your bags to do a thorough search. Any paper with any addresses, phone numbers, names or other information of a personal nature is taken for photocopying. God forbid you should have anything in Arabic other than a Qur’an because that too will need to be taken for photocopying and can increase your detention and interrogation time to hours. While they scour through your personal belongings, they do their version of “casual” interrogation. Every question is usually asked twice during the questioning to ensure that you aren’t lying or making anything up. They at last come to the contents of your pockets. Be ready to surrender your driver’s license and credit cards for “photocopying” as well. Don’t worry though – it’s all just “random”.

After that ordeal, which seems very adept at making most everyone who goes through it feel like a criminal even if they never even had a parking ticket, you are commanded to once again sit among the other randomly selected (read Muslim) passengers. It is not uncommon to have another agent come and request your connecting flight information, “because it looks like we will need to book you on a later flight”. You may be emboldened by this point, if not before, to ask why this keeps happening to you if you are a frequent international traveler, but you will only get the same “it’s random” response. You will not be offered any information to help make any sense out of this whole experience, nor a method for resolving whatever seems to be the issue.

Once everything seems to have cleared to CBP’s satisfaction, you are then “free to go.” Sorry if there are no more connecting flights and you have to spend the night in whatever city you are, or if your family is worried sick because you are several hours late because you can’t use your phone until after you pass the screening area. In fact, you should be grateful for this new addition to national security.

Those of you who have never experienced this may wonder if there is a wee bit of exaggeration in this article, but unfortunately the above-mentioned phrases are based on personal experiences of several Muslims in the past six months. This article is designed to make those of you not on the infamous “terror watch list” or “no-fly list” aware of what does happen to the rest of us and to help guide those who are wrongly on this list to a pathway to legally get off and feel human again.

Procedure for Getting Off “the List”

The process of getting your name cleared from “the list” is actually fairly simple and straightforward. It involves filing a “complaint” for redress with the Department of Homeland Security. What you are attempting to do is clear your name from some classified similarity to a known or suspected terrorist in DHS files. It may be that you have the same birth date, same last name, or some other aspect that in some way resembles someone they have concerns about. The process is as follows:

1. Go to www.tsa.gov/travelers – when there you will click on Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (known as DHS TRIP).
2. Next you will be guided through several screens where you can file your complaint online or via email.
3. Last, you will be required to send in documentation – by snail mail or by attachments to an email – to help verify your identity. These include but are not limited to passport, driver's license, social security card, etc for citizens and other supporting documentation for legal residents or those on work/student visas.

Lastly, you will be given a redress control number that will allow you to check on the status of your filing if all supporting documents are in order. The process was supposed to take only 30 days but there have been reported delays in the past several months such that processing time now is longer. My particular case has extended to seven weeks at the time of this article.

Helping to Expedite Your Detention

Regardless of filing a redress with DHS, it still takes time to clear everything. There are things you should do to help you avoid missing connections or creating undue suspicion. Here are a few tips:

• Pack light – I typically carry only what normally qualifies as carry-on luggage so that I can avoid having to lose 15-20 minutes at the baggage claim before getting my special “interview”.
• Avoid prohibited items – On customs declarations, it specifies that seeds and a variety of foods are prohibited. Some Muslims really miss their Auntie's cooking and want to bring a piece of the old country back with them – don't. It will cause you significant delays and will end up in the garbage. Face it brother, those sunflower seeds aren't worth it.
• Don't be impatient and don't make stupid jokes – It appears that a lot of these “agents” are just waiting for some idiot to mouth off about “his rights” or to make stupid jokes assuming he is a free person. The unfortunate reality is that you no longer have rights and you are not free under these policies. The easiest way and the way of the Sunnah in such a case is to follow the instructions given and to be easy. Allāh has decreed this for some of us and it may be a test that will elevate our degree with Him or forgive our sins. It is also an opportunity to give da'wah. It gives them a chance to see the easy nature of Muslims and their patience and gentleness. If you want to rock the boat and demand your rights wait until you get out of their area and contact a lawyer or your CAIR office. Your good behavior and cooperation will go a long way towards getting your case attention as opposed to brazen arrogance that can sink any sympathy for you. And whatever you do, don't use your cell-phone inside the screening area. It is a violation of their protocol and I have witnessed those who violated it be subjected to significant delays and further scrutiny.
• Avoid materials in other languages – Face it, the Arabic language is now a language of immediate suspicion and Urdu and Farsi aren't far behind. When one of these agents finds a paper written in Arabic (they once “discovered” a word game I had been playing with my wife who was learning Arabic at the time – sea, tree, water, sky, mountain, girl, boy – clearly very concerning things for our national security I'm sure) it was like he struck gold. It led to a renewed round of questioning and of course the “I'll have to photocopy this” line. The Qur’an appears to be an exception. Hand written documents clearly are more scrutinized than printed materials but they both create delays and extra questions. Just avoid the hassles and extra dose of suspicion if you can.
• Finish your prayers – Remembering that this process can sometimes take hours, you don't want to leave your prayer to be done in this place. Make sure that you complete your prayers if the time for them has entered before disembarking from the plane. This will free you such that you will not be concerned about losing them and secondly offer you a good opportunity to seek refuge in Allāh from any mishaps or troubles.
• Du'a – Among the commonly neglected Sunnahs of today is making the remembrances and supplications of the morning and evening. This was something rarely, if ever, missed by the Prophet (saas) and provides the best kind of medicine to many of our problems – and that is preventive medicine. For example, the Prophet (saas) said: “Say: ‘Qul huwa Allaahu ahad (Surah 112) and al-Mi’wadhatayn (Surahs 113 and 114) in the evening and in the morning, three times, and that will suffice you against everything.” (Saheeh Abi Dawood) Among the supplications and remembrances, Uthman reported that Prophet Mohammad (saas) has said that (nothing will harm) the servant who recites these words three times every morning and evening.

بِسÙ'مِ اللÙ'َهِ الÙ'َذِي لَا يَضُرÙ'ُ مَعَ اسÙ'مِهِ Ø´ÙŽÙŠÙ'Ø¡ÙŒ فِي الÙ'أَرÙ'ضِ وَلَا فِي السÙ'َمَاءِ وَهُوَ السÙ'َمِيعُ الÙ'عَلِيمُ

In the name of Allāh, who by His Name nothing in the skies nor on the earth can be permitted to cause harm and He is the All-hearing, the All-knowing. (Tirmidhi)

There are many other important supplications and remembrances prescribed for these two blessed times (morning and evening) which should be learned. Lastly, in the lengthy hadith of Muslim regarding the boy and the King, we learn the valuable du'a the boy made to be protected from the King's men who were intent on killing him:

اللهم اكفينهم بما شئت

“O' Allāh, protect me from them by whatever means you wish!”.

I hope these suggestions will help smooth your travels and protect you from unnecessary delays and harassment. We all ask Allāh that justice will someday return and that we will once again have equal rights with other travelers where our religion will not be a source of suspicion and detentions. In the meantime we ask Allāh to keep our faith in Him and His religion strong and to not allow these trials and tests to lead us astray from His guidance. In summary, it may be of benefit at this point to briefly remember the famous authentic hadith of Khabab ibnal-'Arat:

‘I approached the Prophet when he was reclining in the shade of the Ka‘bah one day. This was in the days when we had received some harm from the pagans (tortured by them). I said to him: ‘O Messenger of Allāh, will you not ask God to help us? Will you not pray for our relief from this persecution?” He sat up red in the face and said: “Among the followers of God before you were those who were thrown in a ditch and then sawed in half. Yet this did not make them turn away from the worship of God. And others had their skin combed with iron combs to the point that the flesh was lifted from the bones yet they too were not swayed from the worship of God. For there is no doubt that God will cause Islam to spread until a person can ride from San’a to Hadramaut (two distant cities in Yemen) and he will not fear anything except God and the wolf regarding his sheep. Yet you are a people who are too hasty!” (Ahmad)

Forgive me if I have made any mistakes in the preparation of this column. I ask Allāh that it be a source of valuable information and relief to distressed travelers – āmīn, was-salaam alaikum.

Other Resources:

• Filing complaint with CAIR
• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)