Last night, DHS pulled a big one: It is temporarily suspending Global Entry enrollment for New York state residents.
New York residents can no longer register for any Trusted Traveler program. This includes Global Entry, NEXUS, and SENTRI. Those who already have a membership can continue to use it, while sign-ups and renewals are no longer possible.
(One Mile at a Time reports that TSA Pre-Check enrollment and renewals aren't impacted by this change.)
The announcement was made on a FOX broadcast by Homeland Security's acting secretary, Chad Wolf. For those that didn't catch the broadcast, there's only a short statement on the official DHS website that doesn't reflect the change.
It also seems like many were kept out of the loop, including DHS agents and New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo is reportedly looking to overthrow this.
Wolf cited New York's Green Light Law, which allows undocumented immigrants to apply for New York driver's license while protecting their information from enforcement agencies.
He further reinforced, that because of these laws, the Department of Homeland Security no longer has access to the information they need to ensure New York residents enrolling in a trusted traveler program would meet the requirements.
The crux being, in order to sign up for Global Entry, a traveler needs to bring a valid passport and another form of identification, such as a driver's license. Cough.
It's unclear how long this will last, though we expect that if it goes on for awhile, people might start kicking up even more a fuss if they haven't already.
