DALLAS \u2014 The Transportation Security Administration said Sunday that its Global Entry program would be suspended as long as the partial government shutdown remains in effect.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes after the Department of Homeland Security said Saturday night that it planned to shut down both Global Entry and the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program as well, but DHS canceled the PreCheck closure.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The turmoil at security and customs lanes is tied to a\u00a0partial government shutdown\u00a0that began Feb. 14 after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach a deal on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security
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Democrats have been demanding changes to\u00a0immigration operations\u00a0that are core to President Donald Trump\u2019s deportation campaign<\/p>\n
The security disruptions come at a time when a\u00a0major winter storm\u00a0will hit the East Coast from Sunday into Monday
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement that \u201cshutdowns have serious real-world consequences\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs staffing constraints arise,\u00a0TSA will evaluate on a case-by-case basis and adjust operations accordingly,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n
The turmoil at security and customs lanes is tied to a\u00a0partial government shutdown\u00a0that began Feb. 14 after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach a deal on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats have been demanding changes to\u00a0immigration operations\u00a0that are core to President Donald Trump\u2019s deportation campaign.<\/p>\n
The security disruptions come at a time when a\u00a0major winter storm\u00a0will hit the East Coast from Sunday into Monday. Nine out of 10 flights going out of John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Boston Logan Airport have been canceled for Monday.<\/p>\n
Global Entry is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to use expedited kiosks when entering the United States from abroad. There’s no specific government data that shows how much time passengers save at airports or other ports of entry from Global Entry but travel industry experts estimate that Global Entry cuts the amount of time passengers getting through customs from an average of 30 to 90 minutes to 5 to 10 minutes in Global Entry lines.<\/p>\n
Those who purchase Global Entry also receive TSA PreCheck. In 2024, the Department of Homeland Security said more than 20 million Americans had TSA PreCheck, and millions of those Americans have overlapping Global Entry memberships.<\/p>\n
Airport lines seemed largely unaffected Sunday, with security check line wait times listed as under 15 minutes for most international airports, according to TSA\u2019s mobile app.<\/p>\n
Blair Perkins, 39, of Dallas, had seen the news about the shutdown of Global Entry before she left Cancun to return home Sunday morning to Dallas. She said after she and her friends arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport that the regular line was long but moved fairly fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went around about four or five different corners to get to the end of the U.S. line,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
With Global Entry, it usually takes less than five minutes to get through customs. she said. Sunday, it took about 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
Perkins said the shutdown was frustrating. \u201cIt feels like Washington is using travelers as a pawn to try to, I guess, persuade the other side to do what they want,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Homeland Security previously said it was taking \u201cemergency measures to preserve limited funds.\u201d Among the steps listed were \u201cending Transportation Security Administration (TSA) PreCheck lanes and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Global Entry service, to refocus Department personnel on the majority of travelers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are glad that DHS has decided to keep PreCheck operational and avoid a crisis of its own making,\u201d said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.<\/p>\n
Before announcing the PreCheck shutdown, Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement Saturday night that \u201cshutdowns have serious real world consequences.” Noem said she would take away courtesy escorts from members of Congress at airports during the partial government shutdown as well.<\/p>\n
Jean Fay, 54, said she had no issues going through TSA PreCheck at the Baltimore airport for her 6 a.m. Sunday flight back home to Texas. She didn\u2019t hear about the shutdown until she was changing planes in Austin, Texas, on her way to Dallas Love Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I landed in Austin I started getting the alerts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Airlines for America, a trade group representing major carriers, said Saturday night that \u201cit\u2019s past time for Congress to get to the table and get a deal done.\u201d It also criticized the announcement by saying it was \u201cissued with extremely short notice to travelers, giving them little time to plan accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA4A is deeply concerned that TSA PreCheck and Global Entry programs are being suspended and that the traveling public will be, once again, used as a political football amid another government shutdown,\u201d the organization said.<\/p>\n
Democrats on the House Committee on Homeland Security criticized Homeland Security handling of airport security after the initial announcement on Saturday night. They accused the administration of \u201ckneecapping the programs that make travel smoother and secure.”<\/p>\n
Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, said Noem\u2019s actions are part of an administration strategy to distract from other issues and shift responsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis administration is trying to weaponize our government, trying to make things intentionally more difficult for the American people as a political leverage,” he told CNN on Sunday. “And the American people see that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 The Transportation Security Administration said Sunday that its Global Entry program would be suspended as long…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[26149,20301,1658,557,132,134,133,3267,287,29499,840],"class_list":{"0":"post-175868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-all-markets-rank-everywhere","9":"tag-app-for-your-consideration","10":"tag-app-local-state-politics","11":"tag-associated-press","12":"tag-austin","13":"tag-austin-headlines","14":"tag-austin-news","15":"tag-california","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-traffic-and-transit","18":"tag-transportation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}