For all the noise about reversing course on TSA PreCheck, one major trusted traveler program remains inexplicably offline. And like PreCheck, there is no credible operational or fiscal justification for it.
Global Entry Remains Suspended And There Is No Rational Case For It
While the Trump administration moved quickly to undo its ill-advised decision to shut down TSA PreCheck, it has allowed Global Entry to remain suspended, a move that is not only unnecessary, but actively counterproductive.
Global Entry is not a courtesy. It is not a perk. And it is certainly not a budgetary liability. It is a user-funded, capacity-enhancing system designed to keep international arrival halls moving. Suspending it will not save money. It will only make immigration lines longer, airports more congested, and the travel experience worse for everyone.
And the administration knows this.
What The Administration Is Saying To Defend The Shutdown
In statements following the DHS reversal on TSA PreCheck, administration officials have continued to defend the suspension of Global Entry by lumping it into broader “resource conservation” efforts tied to the government shutdown.
The logic, such as it is, goes something like this:
- Customs and Border Protection staffing must be prioritized
- Officers must be reassigned to “core security functions”
- Nonessential services must be paused during funding uncertainty
On paper, that may sound plausible. But in reality, it collapses under even minimal scrutiny.
Global Entry Is Funded By User Fees, Not Congressional Appropriations
The most glaring problem with the administration’s position is that Global Entry is not funded by annual appropriations at all.
Participants pay a $100 application fee. Those fees are specifically intended to fund:
- Enrollment centers
- Vetting and background checks
- Kiosk infrastructure
- Ongoing program operations
In other words, Global Entry pays for itself!
Suspending it does not conserve taxpayer dollars. It simply wastes already-collected user fees while removing a system that speeds processing for low-risk travelers.
CBP Is Not Experiencing A Funding Crisis
Even more damning is the fact that the shutdown excuse does not apply to U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the first place.
CBP is operating under funding provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) passed in 2025, which allocated approximately $65 billion to the agency. That funding was designed explicitly to allow CBP to continue functioning without reliance on annual congressional budget approvals.
Put simply:
- CBP is funded
- CBP officers are being paid
- CBP operations are continuing
There is no fiscal emergency requiring Global Entry to be taken offline.
Shutting Down Global Entry Makes Immigration Lines Worse, Not Better
From an operational standpoint, the decision is baffling.
Global Entry exists to:
- Remove low-risk travelers from general processing lines
- Reduce officer workload
- Speed arrivals during peak international banks
When Global Entry is suspended, none of that disappears. Instead:
- Pre-vetted travelers are forced back into regular immigration queues
- CBP officers must spend more time on low-risk cases
- Wait times increase for everyone, including non-Global Entry passengers
- Therefore, resources are strained further
At major international gateways like JFK, LAX, ORD, ATL, and MIA, the effect will be immediate and visible. Arrivals halls will back up. Connection windows will shrink. Missed flights will increase.
For what? So the administration can allow incompetent DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to at least partially save face for her spiteful edicts that she failed to even clear with her boss?
Why Reverse TSA PreCheck But Leave Global Entry Closed?
The contrast with TSA PreCheck is telling.
The administration reversed course on PreCheck once it became obvious that shutting it down would create chaos at security checkpoints and anger domestic travelers.
Global Entry may be easier to ignore politically because it is a smaller program than PreCheck, but operationally, it is just as damaging.
In trying to justify this decision, Noem said, “TSA and CBP are prioritizing the general traveling population at our airports,” but if that is the case, Global Entry has the opposite effect. By efficiently moving travelers through Global Entry checkpoints, general traveling population is prioritized with expedited screening. It’s really not that complicated.
CONCLUSION
The decision to reopen PreCheck while keeping Global Entry suspended shows that the administration is responding to visibility and backlash, not logic or policy coherence.
At best, this is bureaucratic incoherence. At worst, it is deliberate pain infliction dressed up as fiscal responsibility.
The Trump administration deserves credit for reversing the TSA PreCheck shutdown before it caused widespread disruption. That was the correct move.
But allowing Global Entry to remain suspended is indefensible:
- It does not save money
- It does not conserve resources
- It does not improve security
What it does do is snarl immigration lines, frustrate travelers, and degrade the arrival experience at U.S. airports for no tangible benefit.
If the administration is serious about efficiency, security, and common sense governance, Global Entry should be restored immediately.
Anything less suggests that the lesson from the TSA PreCheck fiasco has not actually been learned.
Great post, Matthew. Pre Check reversal was the big one for most Americans so this part has gone a bit under the radar. The reality is that Global Entry is often utilizing one agent who just verifies your identity after your face scan and while you walk by him/her. It is laughable to think it somehow consolidates manpower.
As a side note, I kind of think they were quietly doing this before the announcement. Arriving at LAX TBIT a week ago the Global Entry section was closed off and everyone was routed to the regular. There was no line so I didn’t really think much of it. Until now.
Are you really expecting this administration to act competently and in the best interest of the American people?
Passports are funded by fees, and during prior shutdowns, you could still submit applications, attend appointments, and get renewals.
Global Entry is also funded by fees, and should not be affected, but we are being led by narcissistic children, so nothing matters or makes sense anymore.
252 days until the midterms. Keep that in mind.
Arriving at DEN from MEX yesterday, it was technically open IF you had your Global Entry card.
Excellent points. These decisions were never about staffing. They were punitive towards travelers to rile up folks. It’s ridiculous to suspend Global Entry on a day when literally thousands of people are starting their return home from the Olympics on top of normal business and personal travel.
As a Trump administration supporter I agree with everything you said. Not sure how anyone can defend the bad decision.
But the 2 groups of children need to come together and settle this. Dems are going for political points with the fringe of their base and Republicans are just being dicks. Both sides need to give a little and settle this.
I don’t think the recent polls showing that 65% of Americans feel that ICE has gone too far is defined as fringe. In fact, Dems are supporting what the majority of Americans want. If anyone is placating the fringe it would be MAGA Republicans who are defending Gestapo tactics that involve shooting American citizens and indefinitely detaining legal residents with no oversight or transparency.
Customs, immigration, and visa implementation has been terrible for decades. It’s a bureaucrat’s and lawyer’s dream.
Kyle Prescott – “Dems are going for political points with the fringe of their base”
Reforming ICE is not a fringe position. Polls indicate there is a broad swatch of the American body politic that thinks that ICE is exceeding reasonable exercise of their mandate.
A FoxNews poll from 1/28/26 showed that 59% of ALL voters think that ICE deportation efforts have been too agreesive. Breaking down the numbers, 27% of Republicans, 71% of Independents and 88% of Democrats take that position.
An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll released on 2/5/26 shows that 65% of Americans say that ICE has gone too far. Breakdown for that poll shows that 27% of Republicans, 71% of Independents and 93% of Democrats take that position.
This is not a play for the fringe, and Republicans are fooling themselves if they treat it that way.
I would also argue that abolishing ICE and the DHS shouldn’t be seen as a fringe position either. It’s not like defund the police, but an acknowledgement that DHD has been a disastrous boondoggle from day one and created more problems than solutions. Give its tasks back to other agencies and revert ICE back to something more resembling the pre-9/11 INS.
After all, I thought conservatives were all about reducing bureaucracy…
Has anyone actually read the terms and conditions of global entry…
Help us out. What is your point?
Ugh… returning from Tokyo on Sunday through ORD dread not being able to use GE.
Upcoming trip in May (hopefully GE is open again by then), my connecting flight at ORD was changed so it leaves 2 hours later, but with this shutdown it actually feels like a good thing now. I originally had a 2 hour connection and counting on GE to get me through Customs/Immigrations in the usual 10-15min. If the regular line takes more than an hour, I would likely miss my connection.
Take a look at the Federal Register Docket No. USCBP-2020-0035. It’s dated December 2020 but will provide context on the funding of the program. I live GE and hope to use in when I enter.
the us empire acting like….the us empire. 400+ years of hustling and huckstering.