Travel Group Calls on DHS to Resume Global Entry Program

A top U.S. travel group called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reopen the Global Entry program after it was suspended due to the department’s ongoing shutdown.

A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) representative told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement on Feb. 23 that its Global Entry program at U.S. airports was suspended on Feb. 22 and is still suspended due to the shutdown. The CBP added that “until funding for the Department is restored, CBP Officers are currently unpaid but continue to focus on preventing potential security risks from those entering the country.”

The Global Entry program expedites U.S. customs and immigration clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers who are entering the United States. The DHS is in the midst of a partial shutdown due to a lapse in funding by Congress as Republicans and Democrats differ on immigration enforcement policies.

On Tuesday morning, the U.S. Travel Association called on DHS to restore the Global Entry program, saying that its absence increases security risks and adds longer wait times at U.S. airports.

“Suspending this critical security program does the opposite of what the Department of Homeland Security intends, adding volume to standard lines, stretching the very personnel the department is trying to protect and increasing security risks,” the U.S. Travel Association’s president, Geoff Freeman, said in a statement.

“The program is primarily funded by the $120 fee that members pay. There is no fiscal—or logical—rationale for this decision.”

Over the weekend, DHS said that it would suspend the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) PreCheck program, but later said it was restored. In the meantime, the TSA said in a post on social media on Feb. 22 that it would suspend courtesy escorts,” including those for members of Congress, “to allow officers to focus on the mission of securing America’s skies.”

The TSA PreCheck program relates to security screening for boarding flights in the United States, and has more than 20 million active enrollees. The Global Entry program relates to customs screening for Americans and foreigners from more than 40 partner nations entering the United States.

In a Feb. 22 statement, DHS criticized congressional Democrats for not backing a measure to refund the agency. Services such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Global Entry, and police escorts for members of Congress would be suspended, it said.

“This is the third time that Democrat politicians have shut down this department during the 119th Congress,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “Shutdowns have real world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security.”

Democrats say that reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are needed before they will approve a package to fund and reopen the department.

Responding to the suspension of Global Entry, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blamed the Trump administration, saying it is “choosing to inflict pain on the public instead of adopting common sense ICE reforms.”

“In the 43-day historic Trump government shutdown, DHS never changed the Global Entry program’s status,” his Feb. 22 statement said. “Democrats are fighting against this exact kind of abuse.”

Reuters contributed to this report.