Donald Trump Hit With Another Lawsuit As New York State Sues Over Global Entry Ban
President Donald Trump has been hit by yet another lawsuit. New York State sued the president after his administration banned residents of the state from using expedited border crossing programs such as Global Entry and NEXUS.
“This is political retribution, plain and simple, and while the president may want to punish New York for standing up to his xenophobic policies, we will not back down,” Attorney General Tish James said in a release, per Politico.
“We will not allow New Yorkers to be targeted or bullied by an authoritarian thug.”
The restrictions for the trusted traveler programs happened shortly after New York implemented the new “Green Light Law,” which would provide drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Due to the short timing between the two laws, many have called the restrictions on trusted traveler programs a form of revenge taken on New York and its residents. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo even called the move “pure politics” earlier this week, per CNN.
However, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said that the new “Green Light Law” was only part of the reason for the new travel ban, and much of it stemmed from the fact that New York does not give Customs and Border Protection as much information as the agency believes it requires.
Wolf bolstered his argument by claiming that the empire state was the only one in the union to restrict Customs and Border Protection’s access to law enforcement data.
The acting secretary added that the trusted traveler programs would be reinstated if New York allowed Customs and Border Protection to view information on the state’s motor vehicle database.
“If they want to allow CBP [Customs and Border Protection] to have full access as they have been, again for almost two decades, then we can certainly look at restoring access to those Trusted Traveler Programs and continue to process applicants,” Wolf told CNN.
Part of the reason CBP wants to access the Department of Motor Vehicles files is because it wants information such as whether an applicant has a DUI or another traffic offense, which could negatively affect the applicant’s chance of being awarded “trusted” traveler status, which allows travelers to go through less strident security measures.
The new lawsuit comes shortly after the president ended what many believe was one of the biggest battles of his presidency: impeachment. On Wednesday, Trump was acquitted by the Senate, to mixed reactions from the American public, as was previously reported by The Inquisitr.
