What Is A DHS Trip? My Experience
Updated: Feb 23
Intro
For those who are American passport holders and don't travel that frequently, this probably isn't for you.
A couple of months ago as I was landing from Sao Paulo into Washington DC when I had my passport locked in the yellow box when clearing immigration. At the time, I believed that this was a one-off occurrence; little did I know that there was a complete flag on my name.
A few weeks later, when I got back from Ukraine to New York, the same exact thing happened. There was a flag on my name, but this time, I was informed about it.
What Is A DHS Trip?
There are different stages when it comes to a DHS Trip. Some people get the dreaded SSSS, others get interrogated when leaving the USA, and some get what I got: entry and arrival interrogations.
But what causes this to happen? From what I gathered through various members of the DHS I spoke to, this can happen for the following reasons:
Constant flying to/from major drug smuggling routes (their words, not mine)
Constant traveling out of the country (40-80x+ a year)
A name that resembles someone who is on the terrorist watch list
Sometimes, for reasons you don't know...
There is an extreme downside to this: trying to get the information about why you were flagged.
How To Get It Removed
Ordinarily, once your name has been flagged, it can be tricky to get this flag removed. If you have been pulled over more than 1x in a row, you need to ask for the pamphlet on how to reach out to DHS. From there, you contact DHS and apply for a redress number.
Or you can contact DHS here: https://www.dhs.gov/redress-control-numbers
Keep in mind that this can take quite a while as DHS is notoriously slow. Some people I personally know have reached out to DHS for over 6 months and still don't have a redress number...
Or you can do it my way, but I don't recommend this 😅. Fly so much that they get bored of you 😂.
After getting checked close to 12 times in 2 months, I think they must have given up on me since 2 days before Christmas, when arriving from Taipei to San Francisco, they said, "You're all good."
My theory is that as a US passport holder and having found nothing in my bags or body for the past twelve times, they eventually dismissed my trip.
The DHS Trip Is Tedious
Part of me understands why measures like these are in places, but I also saw a side that showcased how we still stereotype in the United States. Out of all the places I was pulled over, I never once saw another Caucasian person in the same vicinity. I have to imagine it is quite traumatizing for young children to get their bags searched and be spoken to if they are carrying drugs...
Every time I would head off to passport control upon landing, it got to the point where I would just say to the officer, "I have a DHS Trip on my name," and they would call another officer to bring me down to the bag searching room. On average, from the time I was at passport control until I made it through, it would usually take 30 minutes- 1 hour.
But it wasn't just on arrival either that this happened. A couple of times before international flights, I began getting my name called to the gate. It was quite embarrassing, actually, as the agents would rip through my bags while others were watching (before boarding commenced).
As an American passport holder with no criminal conviction, I have to wonder why all of this happened.
However, I do think it is important to note that almost all of the officers I crossed paths with were very kind people. While they still did their job, they did make me feel somewhat comfortable and less nervous (not that I have anything to hide clearly; I just get nervous around law enforcement). So, while on the one hand, I don't believe I should have ever gotten a trip in my name, I would also like to say thank you to the DHS officers, who were almost always kind.
Final Thoughts
Getting a DHS Trip in your name is perhaps one of the most frustrating things if you are a frequent international traveler. It's hard to find out why you have the trip, and it is even harder to figure out how to get rid of it. My advice is that if you have one, apply for a redress number through the link above and hope that the DHS gets back to you. Or you can do what I did and increase your international travel until they get bored of you 😅.
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