NY Will Sue The Federal Government Over Global Entry Suspension; NJ Residents, Signup For Free With These Cards While You Still Can!

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2 days ago the Department of Homeland Security announced that NY residents would no longer be eligible for Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST.

If you haven’t yet been approved, you will receive a refund of your application fee. Current Global Entry members won’t lose their status, but they won’t be able to renew.

Global Entry is a program that has saved me countless hours and allowed me to make connections that would otherwise be impossible. I wrote about these programs here.

The Mobile Passport app is a good alternative to Global Entry for skipping the line when entering the US, but it’s not always available and it’s not offered at as many airports as Global Entry. Plus if you want the app to remember your data you’ll need to pay for the premium version, which isn’t covered by credit cards as Global Entry is.

Global Entry includes TSA PreCheck, another truly invaluable program for travelers. NY residents can still apply for TSA PreCheck without Global Entry.

Today, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that his state will sue the federal government over the Global Entry ban. He says that the only reason for the ban is to score political points and compared the ban to extortion from the Bridgegate and Ukraine scandals.

The federal government argues that more than a dozen states have Green Light Laws that allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. However only NY has passed a law restricting the federal government from accessing DMV records, and that’s why NY is being singled out here. Those records include DUI and other information that would preclude someone from being accepted into the Global Entry program.

The federal government says that if other states block access to their DMV records that they will also be removed from Global Entry. New Jersey recently passed a Green Light Law similar to New York’s that will restrict federal government access to DMV records, but those are not yet in effect.

If you live in NJ you should apply for Global Entry now and schedule your interview as quickly as possible before you lose your opportunity to join the program.

You can get Global Entry (including PreCheck) or PreCheck by itself for free with cards like:

In a cooler political environment, a compromise should have been able to be reached. After all, other states provide DMV records to the federal government without indicating the driver’s legal status.

But it seems like both sides are trying to score political points, which means the only losers are New York residents. And perhaps New Jersey residents as well unless cooler heads, or the courts, prevail.

What are your thoughts on these recent developments?

Leave a Reply

80 Comments On "NY Will Sue The Federal Government Over Global Entry Suspension; NJ Residents, Signup For Free With These Cards While You Still Can!"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

DaBomb

Bank of America premium rewards also offers free TSA per or global entry every 5 years, same as all the cards you mention.

Shimon

Dan, have you anytime wrote more about the passport app and how it works ?

Küm Ba\'aya

Including on free secondary cards ?
So if I have 25 free green cards under the business amex Platinum card, each time I use a different card, the fee gets refunded?

Hi

Still wondering what happens to those that applied and were conditionally approved and haven’t scheduled appointment yet?

Not even political

At This point it’s becoming a matter of security, ny is turning into a 3rd world country and trying to stop any one that gets in the way

Freecountry

#agree as proof by the recent bail reform law.

Mimi k

I use my TSA pre-check 7 to 10 times a year. I would gladly give it up for another 4 years. Forget about politics. He freed SMR. I’m sold.

Joey

You can still get TSA pre

Rob

SMR?

Alex

Same here

Freecountry

No Dan, New York kid 100% wrong in this case, the federal government DID compromise they allowed these states to get away with undermining Federal law enforcement, by not having access to the individuals legal status so they can still offer global entry. But the Democrats in new York who suffer from severe cases of Trump derangement syndrome decided to not give the feds access to information necessary to grant global entry, in essence new York is trying to force the feds to change their global entry guidelines to exclude DUI. So Cuomo and his fellow Democrats are the ones completely at fault here, as proven by the fact that every other state came to a compromise with the feds.

YoniPDX

I honestly don’t see how State of NY has standing since all the programs are Federal under DHS and not a State rights issue.

Consider the FAST program under DHS that is like GE but for NA truck drivers and shippers.

“The Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program is a commercial clearance program for known low-risk shipments entering the United States from Canada and Mexico. Initiated after 9/11, this innovative trusted traveler/trusted shipper program allows expedited processing for commercial carriers who have completed background checks and fulfill certain eligibility requirements.
FAST vehicle lanes process cargo at land border ports of entry that serve commercial cargo. The majority of dedicated FAST lanes are located in northern border ports in Michigan, NEW YORK and Washington and at southern border ports from California to Texas.”

GUWonder

Sort of a con on America if this comes down to Congress being prohibited from having a prohibition from passing de facto bill of attainder or ex-post facto laws while the Offices of the Executive does just that by “legislating“ from the Office under cover of “administering”.

Malkie J

I have been conditionally approved and scheduled for the interview. I wonder what will happen for me. I live in NY.

Gittel

Safety before convenience

Barry D

I am secondary card hold on an United Explorer card account, am I entitled to the Global Entry benefit?
Thanks

Rob

Instead of suing, why doesn’t Cuomo just undo the one part of the green light law where he clearly went too far and is the cause of the problem?

GUWonder

Line item or other veto of a law/regulation after the fact without following the proper process in the state to change things? Bad idea if you care about living under the rule of law.

Correcting typos from earlier: “Sort of a con on America if this comes down to Congress being constitutionally prohibited from passing de facto bill of attainder or ex-post facto laws while the Offices of the Executive does just that by “legislating“ from the Office under cover of “administering”.

Küm Ba\'aya

So I just found out that my GE card is just as good as my passport card that I just ordered…

Question:
Does the passport app people go on the same line as global entry?
For $15 per year that wouldn’t be a bad alternative for now.
OR do they have to wait on regular line?
Tia

Alyssa Cohen Kaplan

Lawrence Payne, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman, said the access was crucial to analyze information on applicants’ traffic offenses, like infractions for driving under the influence, that would not regularly be available to the agency.

But Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said those travelers already send substantial personal information to the federal government, and submit to a background check, when applying for the expedited travel programs, making the D.M.V. databases unnecessary.

“It is clearly a blatant attempt by the White House to score political points and perpetuate a partisan fight with New York elected officials,” Mr. Thompson said.

DHS doesn’t need to know if you’re a licensed driver to assess your Global Entry eligibility. Your DMV record doesn’t contain the criminal offense or customs violation data they look at.

Marco Lopez tweeted This makes all air travelers less safe. Bunches known and unknown travelers into same queue, hurting everyone’s security. I was Chief of Staff at @CBP when we launched Global Entry. Best crime fighting took in the skies

Joelfreak

Thank you for this logical reply. The right wing force is out in full to cheer on their posterboy on this. This is VERY clearly something to strike back at NY.

!

Dont they need your DUI record ?

Thaigh

So is the ban for current residents of NYS or previous residents too? The logic of the ban is broken when you consider DUI records of people that used to live in NYS are equally as unavailable. Why are not all current and past NYS residents precluded from getting Global Entry? If I move from NY to NJ, won’t the federal government have the same limitations to my NY data?

Chavi

My mothers Nexus membership expired and she submitted for renewal a while ago but didn’t hear back yet. Is she also not going to get it?

rebyid

I’m not sure if I’m lucking out or I just fly at weird times, but I’ve not found the non global entry lines to be all that long.. Somewhat more benefit from precheck, but even that’s not always such a big difference between the lines.

Chris

Anyone know how the reimbursement will work if it was paid on a card that is now cancelled?

Jake

Hi Dan if i got conditionley approved but didnt get the interview yet will they still approve me

Mendy

Hi Dan
If I got approved but did not schedule a interview yet ( which at this point they will not allow me to)
will I get a refund?
[ I did get the fee credited from my credit card]
Ty

YS

I don’t fly often internationally is it worth getting Global? I already have TSA Precheck

Nahag

Is it safe to fly with the coronvirus? If cruise ships in Asia have confirmed cases, how come airlines show no comfirmed cases on flights? So much misinformation.

Robert Elnadav

My 16 month old is conditionally approved. Will they differentiate bet minors and adults?

Chaim

That’s an interesting question. There are no DMV records being kept back there.

David R

If applicants are okay with the federal government digging into their background, why can’t NY put in place a process to release the information when consent is given?

Mendy

Grab some popcorn

Bryna Flaum

I was approved and scheduled an interview the day before the ban. Will they still let my application go through?

Simon

Just curious, if any of you have an idea of why DUI should affect Global Entry? Does it make sense to anyone?

Dave

I know I have global entry just didn’t use it in while, do I need the number when traveling or it’s there automatically?

GUWonder

To use Global Entry kiosks at airports as a Global Entry member, your passport, fingers and face work without you having to enter the Global Entry/PASSID number anywhere.

To substantially increase your chances to get PreCheck as a Global Entry member, you will want the GE/PASSID number to show up in the airline record locator, and this means you would at some point want to manually enter the number so it gets into your ticketed airline records.

Ben

Hi Dan,

As soon as the news broke I logged on and processed my Wife’s renewal they charged my card 2 days later and have yet to issue a refund is there a cut-off day that this went into effect or was it effective immediately?
I renewed mine (luckily) in Jan and was approve a day later without interview. Think I might get lucky here?

Steve

Cannot expect much positivity out of NY anymore. NY is history in the making……

??

I have the amex plat. How can I sign up? link?

??

any reason NOT to sign up for global entry? (vs just TSA pre) Assuming they are both going to be free for me.

Urvashi

It’s been 8 weeks I’ve applied NJ resident and no conditional approval yet. Any idea what’s going on? I should be getting an email right??

GUWonder

That kind of wait isn’t unusual. For going on over a year now, some GE applicants can face having applications stuck in pending review status for months and months and months. I’ve seen renewal applications last year that were stuck in pending review status for 4+ months and then they went to final approval or conditional approval.

Yossi

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo:
“I will give them the DMV database for Trusted Traveler. These are people who go for an in person federal interview with all sorts of background information. So it’s pure politics and that is what I am going to say to the President tomorrow,”

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/12/politics/donald-trump-andrew-cuomo-global-entry-trusted-traveler/index.html

Alon

I just got globalentry rejection lettr because i live in NY. Will they refund me my application fee.
Will i still have TSA precheck

Y W

any update on this? my existing membership is expiring now, however they don’t allow me to reapply.

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