Cuomo Calls for Probe of ‘Trusted Traveler’ Ban on New Yorkers

(Bloomberg) -- New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security’s botched attempt to ban New Yorkers from programs that allow pre-screened travelers to breeze through airport passport and customs checks.

The Justice Department on Thursday said the effort to restrict New Yorkers from participating in federal Trusted Traveler Programs like Global Entry was based on false or incomplete information and state residents were once again welcome. But Cuomo said Congress or U.S. Attorney General William Barr should probe the matter to determine if it was illegal “political exploitation” targeted at a Democratic-led state.

“I believe there is civil liability,” Cuomo said Friday at a press conference in Albany. “It was a clear abuse of government power for political purposes.”

The Justice Department didn’t respond to a request for comment on Cuomo’s call for an investigation.

DHS in February said it was banning New Yorkers from the program in response to a new state law allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses while shielding their information from federal authorities. The U.S. said the law would prevent it from accessing the data it needs to properly screen program applicants from New York, and that New York’s restrictions were unique.

But the Justice Department on Thursday told a federal judge in Manhattan overseeing a lawsuit challenging the ban by New York Attorney General Letitia James that other states, as well as Washington, D.C., and some U.S. territories, also don’t share all information with Customs and Border Protection, such as a person’s driving-related criminal history, and that DHS hadn’t stopped those residents from participating in the programs.

“These revelations undermine a central argument in defendants’ briefs and declarations to date: that CBP is not able to assure itself of an applicant’s low-risk status because New York fails to share relevant DMV information with CBP” for the programs’ purposes, the U.S. said in its letter to the court.

Justice department lawyers said they deeply regretted the inaccurate or misleading information and apologized to both the court and the New York plaintiffs for the need to correct their position. They also withdrew a motion to dismiss James’ suit.

James, a Democrat who has frequently clashed with President Donald Trump in court, said in a statement that the administration’s backing down was a victory for New York travelers and the state’s economy.

“This policy was political retribution, plain and simple, which is why we filed our lawsuit to stop the president from targeting and punishing New Yorkers in the first place,” James said.

The clash may not be over. On Friday, DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf said in an interview on Fox News that New York is the only state that has taken “proactive measures” to cut off information sharing.

“We remain very concerned,” Wolf said. “We’ll continue to work with our Department of Justice colleagues to see what we can do, perhaps through the legal system, to address those concerns.”

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