DHS pausing TSA PreCheck, Global Entry programs amid funding lapse

The Department of Homeland Security is suspending frequent flier and quick-processing programs for travelers at airports and U.S. border crossings starting Sunday, a DHS official confirmed.

The programs include the Transportation Security Administration’s TSA PreCheck, which allows vetted passengers to forgo customary security check-in lines for quicker passage, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry, which offers similarly rapid check-ins for Americans at U.S. ports of entry.

The suspension, first reported by The Washington Post, will start at 6 a.m. ET Sunday, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem blamed congressional Democrats and said the lack of funding endangers Americans and puts personnel in a financial bind.

“Shutdowns have serious 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,” Noem said in a statement. “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.”

The DHS funding shutdown started Feb. 14 as the White House and Senate Democrats negotiate changes to DHS and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency after two people were killed by federal law enforcement personnel in Minneapolis amid a federal crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

Personnel at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard aren’t being paid, though most will continue coming to work because their jobs are considered critical.

ICE and Customs and Border Protection personnel are continuing their paid work under $75 billion in funding approved last year under President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending law.

Noem said CBP and the TSA will prioritize “the general traveling population,” while FEMA will halt non-disaster responses amid the funding lapse.

“This is particularly important given this weekend another significant winter storm is forecast to impact the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States,” she said in her statement Saturday.