House Dems demand DHS docs on suspension of Global Entry of New Yorkers triggered by state sanctuary policy

House Democrats continue to put advocacy for illegal immigrants, to include criminal aliens, at the very top of their priority list ahead of the 2020 election, after taking out President Trump, of course.

Democrats in the lower chamber penned a letter Friday to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, demanding documents related to a move to suspend enrollment in Global Entry and other Trusted Traveler Programs (TTP) for New York residents, Fox News reported.

The letter is in support of New York in its efforts to mainstream illegal immigration, with the party calling the decision a “senseless, retaliatory” move.

Democratic House leaders wrote: “We write today to express our opposition to the decision by the Department of Homeland Security to discriminate against residents of the State of New York by barring them from enrolling or re-enrolling in four U.S. Customs and Border Protection Trusted Traveler Programs This senseless, retaliatory decisions should be immediately reversed.”

Those signing include Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Oversight and Reform Committee. The future of the Democratic Party, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also signed the letter.

“We are concerned that the Department’s policy change may be an improper attempt to use official DHS policy to punish the punish the people of New York because their state government has a political disagreement with the Trump administration over immigration policy,” the lawmakers added.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who vowed to use all legal means to get Trump when she was campaigning for office, calling him an “illegitimate president,” claimed the new policy “will negatively impact travelers, workers, commerce, and our economy,” adding that the state will “fight the president’s shortsighted crusade against his former home.”

“We will not allow New Yorkers to be targeted or bullied by an authoritarian thug,” the state’s top prosecutor said, according to CNN.

Wolf prevented New York residents from participating in these programs when the “Green Light Law” passed by Democrats went into effect in the state, allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

In a letter to New York officials, Wolf said the law “compromises CBP’s ability to confirm whether an individual applying for TTP membership meets program eligibility requirements.”

“An aspect of the law which I’m most concerned about is that it prohibits the DMV from providing ICE and CBP with important data used in law enforcement, trade, travel, and homeland security,” he said. “ICE uses the information as they investigate and build cases against terrorists, and criminals who commit child sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and financial crimes. Unfortunately, because of this law, they can no longer do that.”

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the measure into law in June, loosening the forms of identification that can be used to obtain a driver’s license, allowing foreign documents that may be difficult to verify, if not impossible.

Consistent with sanctuary state policies, the new law prohibits Department of Motor Vehicles agencies from sharing criminal records with Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Even CNN acknowledged that “the law was heralded by supporters as a way to allow undocumented immigrants a way to live and work in the state without having to fear deportation.”

The decision to ban New Yorkers from participating in programs that feature relaxed screening for pre-approved travelers came the day after President Trump mentioned the state’s sanctuary policies in his State of the Union address.

“The United States of America should be a sanctuary for law-abiding Americans, not criminal aliens,” Trump said.

The acting secretary said Friday New Yorkers can regain access if the state grants DHS access to its motor vehicle database.

“If they want to allow CBP to have full access as they have been, again for almost two decades, we can certainly look at restoring access to those Trusted Traveler Programs and continue to process applicants,” Wolf told CNN.

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