DHS suspends Global Entry, threatens TSA PreCheck on shutdown Day 8

DHS Secretary KNKristi Noem announced on Feb. 22, 2026, that TSA PreCheck and CBP Global Entry would be suspended beginning at 6 a.m. that day. The announcement came on the eighth day of the partial DHS shutdown that began Feb. 14. TSA reversed the PreCheck suspension hours later; Global Entry remained suspended.

About 61,000 TSA employees work at 430-plus commercial airports across the country. Under the shutdown, 95% of them — roughly 58,000 people — are classified as essential and required to keep working without pay. Their first missed paycheck is expected on March 3, 2026.

The DHS shutdown is the third in less than a year. The previous one lasted 43 days — the longest federal agency shutdown on record. During that shutdown, acting TSA Administrator HNHa Nguyen McNeill testified to Congress that officers slept in their cars at airports to save gas money, sold blood plasma, and took second jobs to cover basic expenses.

Democrats triggered this shutdown by blocking a DHS funding bill over demands for ICE accountability reforms. The impasse stems directly from the January 2026 killing of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis by ICE and CBP agents during a federal immigration operation. Democrats are demanding changes like judicial warrants, body cameras, and agent identification requirements.

DHS has approximately 272,000 total employees. About 92% — roughly 250,000 — are classified as essential and required to work. Roughly 22,000 are furloughed. Most ICE and CBP enforcement personnel continue to operate using separate long-term funding appropriated under the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, so immigration enforcement largely continues even as the shutdown drags on.

The Coast Guard is curtailing training and grounding some aircraft due to the shutdown. FEMA halted all non-disaster-related response efforts on Feb. 22, 2026, to prioritize disaster funding. The Secret Service paused ongoing reforms. CBP ended Global Entry processing at all participating airports as of 6 a.m. Feb. 22.

Congress was on a planned week-long recess from mid-February until Feb. 23. Senate Majority Leader JTJohn Thune said reaching a deal would be a heavy lift even after members return, calling the differences between the parties significant. The White House and Senate Democrats have moved through negotiations at what Government Executive described as a glacial pace.

Rep. BTBennie Thompson of 🎸Mississippi, ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said the suspension of TSA PreCheck and Global Entry was designed to punish the American people as political leverage. He called on the administration to reverse both decisions immediately, noting that PreCheck and Global Entry reduce airport lines and ease the burden on unpaid DHS staff.