The Department of Homeland Security has suspended Global Entry and may do the same for TSA PreCheck if the shutdown of the department continues.
The department initially announced that both fast-track airport security services would be halted effective 6 a.m. Sunday, but later reversed course on suspending TSA PreCheck.
The Transportation Security Administration said PreCheck lines remained operational with no immediate change for the traveling public.
“As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations accordingly,” the agency posted on social media.
Ha Nguyen McNeill, acting head of the Transportation Security Administration, told lawmakers during a hearing this month that 95% of the agency’s staff is considered essential and would continue working during a shutdown.
That is roughly 61,000 employees who have to work without pay to protect the traveling public at more than 430 commercial airports, she said.
TSA was able to keep average security line wait times within the agency’s standards during the 43-day shutdown last year, but some “localized spikes” were reported as the impasse dragged on and rates of unscheduled absences increased, Ms. McNeill said.
Global Entry is run separately by Customs and Border Protection. Asked about the program’s status, a DHS spokesperson referred The Washington Times to its updated press release.
The release adjusted the status of TSA PreCheck as operational but still said Global Entry was suspended and officers would be reassigned to general processing of travelers arriving to the U.S.
“U.S. citizens and lawful permanent resident Global Entry Members can proceed to the properly marked primary processing lanes for arriving U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents,” the department said. “All other Global Entry members can proceed to the properly marked visitor lanes. ”
The adjustment to airport services was among a few “emergency measures” DHS said it was taking after a full week of the shutdown to “preserve limited funds and personnel.”
The department is also halting all non-disaster-related Federal Emergency Management Agency response efforts and suspending courtesy police escorts for members of Congress traveling through airports.
Democrats are blocking a DHS spending bill in an effort to leverage new restrictions on President Trump’s deportation force following the outrage over the deaths of two U.S. citizens killed in Minneapolis.
“This is the third time that Democrat politicians have shut down this department during the 119th Congress,” Homeland Security 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. The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians.”
FEMA is scaling back its operations to focus on bare-minimum, life-saving efforts for new or recent disasters, which Ms. Noem said is especially important given the winter storm forecast to hit the mid-Atlantic and northeast region.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer noted that DHS did not suspend the Global Entry program during the 43-day shutdown last year, saying the agency is now making choices based on politics.
“Everyone knows Donald Trump and DHS use bullying tactics — this is another one of them,” the New York Democrat said. “The Trump administration is choosing to inflict pain on the public instead of adopting common-sense ICE reforms.”
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