DHS to pause TSA PreCheck and Global Entry as funding lapse forces cuts

The Department of Homeland Security will temporarily suspend TSA PreCheck and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry program beginning Sunday at 6 a.m. Eastern, a DHS spokesperson said, citing emergency staffing and resource decisions tied to a partial agency funding lapse. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem described the action as “making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions,” saying the agency is “prioritizing the general traveling population at our airports and ports of entry” and “suspending courtesy and special privilege escorts.” She added that “shutdowns have serious real world consequences.”

The suspension removes expedited security and customs processing that millions of travelers rely on and could lengthen wait times at airports and ports of entry. The Points Guy reported that about 20 million Americans were members of TSA PreCheck as of 2024; Global Entry provides expedited customs clearance and expedited passport control for vetted international arrivals. It is not clear how long the pause will last, and DHS did not immediately explain why the expedited programs were chosen when they continued to operate during past shutdowns.

The decision comes amid a partial DHS funding shutdown that sources say began Feb. 14, while much of the rest of the federal government remains funded through Sept. 30. Democrats in Congress are withholding approval of full DHS appropriations pending new limits on immigration enforcement operations, a political standoff officials say has driven the lapse. Detroitnews reported that agencies central to that dispute, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, may be able to continue most operations because of prior funding inflows; the outlet cited figures that DHS received roughly $170 billion in a Republican tax and spending bill last year, including about $75 billion for ICE.

DHS contingency and shutdown planning also shaped the move. Detroitnews cited a department plan saying 91 percent of DHS employees would continue to work without pay under a shutdown scenario, while WRAL reported that about 95 percent of TSA workers are designated essential and required to keep working. Detroitnews also reported that the agency’s first missed paycheck would fall on March 3, a schedule other brief reports described more generally as an imminent missed payroll.

Beyond airport processing, the funding lapse has affected other DHS operations. Arabnews PK reported that the department ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to suspend deployment of hundreds of aid workers to disaster areas. Officials have not released the internal orders that directed the PreCheck and Global Entry pause, and one account said independent verification of the reporting was not immediately possible.

Institutionally, halting the two flagship traveler programs is a marked departure from past shutdown playbooks and highlights how DHS functions differently from other agencies when funding is fragmented. Because most TSA staff remain on duty as essential workers, the pause represents a managerial choice to reassign limited on-site resources to general screening rather than maintain expedited lanes. That recalibration will be visible to ordinary travelers and could sharpen public scrutiny of ongoing negotiations in Congress.

Lawmakers face a compressed political calculus: sustaining day-to-day border and emergency operations while negotiating structural changes to immigration enforcement. For travelers, the immediate consequence is tangible: expedited privileges will be unavailable at the checkpoints and kiosks that millions use, potentially producing longer lines and more missed connections as the shutdown continues.