Conduct a Homeland Security Check

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is primarily responsible for protecting the nation’s territories from terrorist attacks and also respond in times of natural calamities. Of late, the Department has also embraced duties related to immigration, naturalization, and customs enforcement services. The Department thus formed two agencies to execute these duties: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Homeland Security Terrorist and Fugitives Lists

In an effort to increase awareness about absconding terrorists and fugitives who are perceived as threats to national and global security, the DHS prepares comprehensive lists of these wanted criminals. These also serve as public safety measures and encourage citizens to both safeguard themselves and their families from the malicious intentions of dangerous criminals and also inform law enforcement officials about their whereabouts.

The ICE Most Wanted Criminal Aliens List contains information about foreign citizens from all over the world who have been charged with committing serious criminal offenses in the United States and have served prison sentences. The persons featuring in this list have been ordered to be deported but they continue to evade the law. They are thus threats to public safety. View this list at http://www.ice.gov/pi/dro/wanted/fugitives.htm. The ICE Most Wanted Fugitive list can be viewed at http://www.ice.gov/pi/investigations/wanted/fugitives.htm. A Department of Homeland Security search of these lists will throw up these details about a wanted criminal: a mug shot of the person, his/her full name, date and place of birth, nationality, details of physical appearance including scars and tattoos, information about the crime committed, and last known location.

Information from the DHS Most Wanted lists is also included in the terrorist watch list prepared by the Terrorist Screening Center.

Falsely Featured

There may be misidentification issues related to the Most Wanted lists. This leads to a host of complications especially for those who are traveling: delay in or denial of airline boarding or while entering US ports of entry or border checkpoints, and continuous referral to additional screening procedures. Thus the Department of Homeland Security Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (DHS TRIP) has been set up to correct issues like wrong listings.

The DHS TRIP program also deals with issues like erroneous personal information contained within US Government’s records, your name featuring in the “No Fly List,”  a person wishing to modify his traveler’s records due to an overstay after failing to submit I-94 when leaving US, and removing a biometric record created in US-VISIT.

To correct the records or to file a complaint with DHS TRIP, fill out the online form available at https://trip.dhs.gov/ and submit your grievance. Or you may mail the form accompanied by proofs of identification to TRIP@dhs.gov or DHS Traveler Redress Inquiry Program (TRIP), 601 South 12th Street, TSA-901, Arlington, VA 20598-6901.

Homeland Security Check by Employers

These days, many employers carry out a Homeland Security check of a prospective employee against the listings in terrorist and fugitive databases. This is especially true of industries that are most vulnerable to terrorist strikes, like water, public health, emergency services, energy, telecommunications, banking and finance, dams, nuclear reactors, and defense industrial units.A Homeland Security check is an effective way to counter terrorist threats.