Media Contact

Ben Schaefer, media@nyclu.org, 212-607-3372

October 13, 2020

NEW YORK - Today the Southern District Court of New York issued a ruling in Lewis-McCoy et. al v. Department of Homeland Security, siding with the New York Civil Liberties Union in its lawsuit challenging the arbitrary decision to suspend New Yorkers from enrolling and re-enrolling into Global Entry and other Trusted Traveler Programs. In the decision, the court ordered the department to vacate its ban and extensively detailed the false statements made by the department to justify the ban. In response, the New York Civil Liberties Union issued the following statement from senior staff attorney Antony Gemmell:

“The Court’s decision this afternoon confirms what was obvious the moment we filed this lawsuit: The Trump Administration had no legitimate reason to target New York residents for exclusion from Global Entry and the other Trusted Traveler Programs. This retaliatory ban was always about punishing New Yorkers for standing with immigrants, not about safety. After initially claiming the TTP ban was necessary for national security, our lawsuit forced DHS officials to admit that their stated justification was a lie. The brazen attempt by a federal agency to mislead the public and single out New York for political points calls into serious question the intent and rationale of DHS decision-making across myriad other immigration issues. 

“The Trump Administration tried to punish New York for passing the Green Light Law which made driver’s licenses available to New Yorkers regardless of immigration status. Targeting immigrant communities with hostile policies has been a top priority since day one of the Trump Administration. Today’s ruling formally vacating the ban is an important victory for New Yorkers, for millions of travelers targeted by the ban, and for every person who thinks the Trump Administration should be accountable for its actions.”