After Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the suspension of TSA PreCheck and Global Entry due to the partial government shutdown, the White House reversed her on PreCheck. Global Entry, though, was ordered closed.
- Her claim was that fewer staffing resources (because of agents now showing up for work) needed to be dealt with. Screeners would be deferring pay until appropriations were completed for the agency.
- So she’d focus on general travelers rather than priority programs.
- But these programs actually reduce staffing needs. Pushing everyone through standard security and immigration means employees have to spend more time per traveler. Global Entry processing is mostly done by machine, and suspending that meant processing passengers by employees instead.
Global Entry kiosks were shut down at Newark.
In San Francisco it was reported that kiosks were closed but Global Entry passengers were being processed by an officer. The airport reported that Global Entry was actually open.
TSA Precheck and Global Entry remain operational at SFO this morning.
— San Francisco International Airport (SFO) ✈️ (@flySFO) February 22, 2026
Global Entry was closed in Atlanta and at New York JFK terminal 8 but reported open in Detroit. Global Entry was suspended at U.S. Preclearance in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary.
Here’s a Global Entry machine shown as shut down for maintenance at Washington Dulles:
Global entry closed due to DHS funding.
by
u/cyabits in
GlobalEntry
Not only was Global Entry closed in Miami, but Mobile Passport Control was also. Here’s what immigration queues looked like in Miami:
There are literally thousands of people in a line that reaches miles at MIA right now. Do the right thing and reopen Global Entry, which actually uses fewer resources to process more people. This is nothing more than a political stunt. @garyleff pic.twitter.com/rR40upHsWG
— Lucas Wiseman (@Lucas_Wiseman) February 23, 2026
If this goes on for more than a few days it will depress inbound travel.
- Citizens of nearly 20 countries are eligible for U.S. Global Entry, suchas Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, Mexico, Germany, India, South Korea and the U.K.
- Pushing Global Entry-eligible travelers into regular queues will back up those queues.
Already, as international tourist arrivals rose worldwide in 2025 by about 4%, U.S. foreign visits were down 6% (and spending down 7%). The U.S. was reportedly the only economy with an absolute decline in visitor spending last year. And greater border friction stories of long lines and disruptions reinforce a narrative not to bother with travel to the U.S., which has an affect at the margin.
This is a self-own on the administration’s trade priorities. Each 1% drop in international visitor spending translates to $1.8 billion less export revenue per year.
A 7% drop in foreign visitor spending implies roughly $12.6 billion less export revenue. As a sanity check that’s consistent with World Travel and Tourism Council estimates of a $12.5 billion decline.
U.S. Travel also estimates 7.6 travel jobs per $1 million in international inbound travel spending. A $12.5 billion drop in spending would affect 95,000 direct jobs. They forecase that inbound travel declines push the travel trade deficit toward $70 billion.
Now, there’s a lot of assumptions built into U.S. Travel’s economic modeling here and a presumed bias towards estimating the impact of travel on the economic on the high side. It’s useful for some back of the envelope order of magnitude sorts of estimations, but I wouldn’t overrely on the specific numbers. The point is simply to illustrate that depressing travel is harmful to the economy, that’s already happening, and it undermines the administration’s overall economic and trade goals (and the trade goals are ostensibly economic strategic!).
Cutting off Global Entry is also bad for the administration’s immigration goals. That’s because Global Entry is meant to focus staffing resources on the highest risk arrivals. By spending less time on travelers who have already been vetted, agents can spend more time vetting others. That’s what this administration especially wants! And it’s exactly what’s undermined by pushing all travelers through standard immigration processes.
ICE Barbie needs to go back to South Dakota. Maybe she can fit Hegseth in her carryon and we’ll be rid of two incompetent cabinet secretaries.
Applicants to GE go through background checks. Another example of stupid government.
It’s funny, I came back through IAD a couple of weeks ago from LHR and several of those Global Entry machines were down for maintenance – looks like they just slapped a political message on top of them about DHS funding. So ….
GE and PreCheck should be like passports, funded by fees, so, not shut down, but that’d be too logical…
This government is a master in the art of self-pwn.
Those with Global Entry should demand a refund from the US Government for not being able to use it during the period of the shut down.
Noem is a complete disappointment. She has proved her incompetence.
Can you still use the Global Entry App?
As I said yesterday this is being done to create a difficulty for better off people. Then this administration will blame the Democrats and try to direct the anger at them. “They made us shut it down” is sort of like, “She made me so mad that I had to hit her”. Creating problems and saying you are the only one who can solve them is an old trick.
@drrichard — A tale as old as time. Bad faith tactics. DARVO. Two Santas. The issue is that right wing propaganda and consolidation of media ownership means that the truth isn’t reality, it’s whatever they say it is. Hopefully, we overcome this all soon enough. 252 days until the midterms. Overdue for real oversight and actual accountability.
At the end of the day, the real issue is that DHS has been shut down since Feb. 14 after SENATE DEMOCRATS blocked the agency’s funding. That is an indisputable point of fact. All of this goes away once Senate Democrats cease holding the rest of the coutry hostage. If you’re pissed as a traveler, I suggest that you take it out on them.
@TexasTJ — I guess we’ll do this all again. Ready? From your Dear Leader: ‘A shutdown means the President is weak…’ the party in-power gets blamed… blah, blah, blah…
Hi Gary,
Why would there be “fewer staffing resources (because of agents now showing up for work)”? I think the thing that’s missing here is that ICE and CBP were paid during the fall shutdown and can continue to be paid during this shutdown. OBBA appropriations to ICE and CBP are more flexible than they seem, and the appropriation for CBP personnel is more than enough to bridge the payroll gap during a general DHS appropriations lapse, especially since that money will be replenished when funding is restored.
Public reporting states Noem paid CBPOs during the last shutdown using OBBA funds, and if she does not pay them during this shutdown, that is a choice. That so many CBP personnel are on reassignment to interior immigration enforcement activities adds another wrinkle: Is she really not going to pay CBPOs and Border Patrol agents doing interior enforcement while the ICE ERO colleagues they work alongside continue to be paid? If she does pay them, is she really going to pay some CBPOs while those who remain posted at POEs go unpaid? The answer to both of these questions is almost definitely “no”, and if it is yes, that is a political choice that Noem is making.
Which might be the actual goal.
@1900 Pre-Check and Global Entry ARE covered by fees. And this is what is so stupid about this.
Everyone who has one or both pay for the service. So, you punish those who help fund the TSA and ICE. We have some smart people making decisions these days.
Questions if anyone knows:
1. How is this impacting Clear?
2. How is this impacting NEXUS?
fascist government at work.. doesn’t care about the people, but they do care if a cabinet member gets her taxpayer funded $70million personal jet.
@ texasTJ, it takes 2 to tango.. and it’s not the Dems that are run by a demented wannabe king
@Doug
A true Fascist government would not be shut down right now. Correct? The Fascist leader would keep everything going. Your side loves this and Nazi and racist and bigot and on and on.
@Parker — I hear ya! Louder for the people in the back!
Bhn says:
CE Barbie needs to go back to South Dakota. Maybe she can fit Hegseth in her carryon and we’ll be rid of two incompetent cabinet secretaries.
And I will feel a hell of lot safer with her killing dogs instead of people.
AlanZ
Is okay with criminal illegals killing US citizens. Amazing!
@ coffee please. Killing is wrong regardless of who does it. The administration is still parading around that nurse. If there was a lot of this going on, I’m sure this administration would be parading them around, too. Using tradegy for political reasons…disgusting.
@ Parker
Clear is working in SEA. Went through it yesterday.
Gary opines: “A 7% drop in foreign visitor spending implies roughly $12.6 billion less export revenue.”
Oh no! Can anyone lend me some pearls to clutch? Or panties to wad? How will the US economy survive this DEVASTATING blow of a … squinting … 0.0036% contraction in export revenue?? The horror. The horror.
*shrugs*
Since the GE website states “In the event the kiosks are not functioning upon your arrival, Global Entry members are accorded front of the line privilege,” does this mean GE can cut the line? Or is that not an option either?
Thank the Democrats blocking funding for HOMELAND SECURITY including the Coast Guard, Secret Service, and TSA.
ICE and CBP are still funded and will continue to deport criminal illegal aliens.
*Shutdown (in the heading).
@ JOJO — How exactly are the Dems blocking anything when the other party holds all the power/majorities? They can go ahead and end the Filibuster and get what they want right now. In the meantime, we can start work on adding DC to the new 51-state flag and two new Dem Senate seats. Next up, how many DEI SCOTUS hires can President Newsom add to the court? It will be grand!
“Oh no! Can anyone lend me some pearls to clutch? Or panties to wad? How will the US economy survive this DEVASTATING blow of a … squinting … 0.0036% contraction in export revenue?? The horror. The horror.’
The horror is certainly in your maths. Or your understanding of decimals and percentages. A $12.6 billion decrease should be 0.36%
Data point: MPC saved time at IAD. Still, without GE took me about 20 minutes, whereas usually 5 minutes tops.
“252 days until the midterms.”
What a f…ing maroon!
I suspect this situation may not last long. Historically, shutdown-related disruptions tend to generate political debate over responsibility, but voters are capable of evaluating the underlying policy tradeoffs for themselves. This is obviously an irresponsible political stunt by Noem, and a very irritating one at that.
“fascist government at work.. doesn’t care about the people, but they do care if a cabinet member gets her taxpayer funded $70million personal jet.” Yes, true about fascists (no US isn’t fascist). Also true worldwide: communist government at work.. doesn’t care about the people, but they do care if a cabinet member gets their taxpayer-funded, $70 million personal jet.
@Mike P — Reminds me of Bugs Bunny, ‘what a maroon!’ They didn’t curse in Looney Toons, though… Now 251 days…
This is the equivalent of a grocery store closing self checkout lanes because they might have fewer cashiers for staffed lanes. No business would do something that would increase friction and decrease throughput.
But government? Sure – why not? Tax dollars at work…
At least the Precheck / Congressional escort gambit had real high visibility and impact on congress traveling back and forth to DC, which might get them to act more quickly. This just costs civilian time for no purpose.
There isn’t one competent appointee in this entire administration.
Where are the reports from travelers about if their TSA check has been taking a lot longer than normal? It has been five days.