WASHINGTON – The United States has announced new policies that would prohibit residents in New York, including Caribbean nationals, from applying for or renewing special travel programmes, known as Trusted Travel Programmes.
The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency said that, effective immediately, residents of the State of New York will no longer be eligible to apply for or renew membership in its Trusted Traveller Programmes “due to state legislation that restricts CBP’s access to certain criminal history information maintained by the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)”.
CBP said the Vehicle Exports programme will also be affected.
“Vehicles titled in New York may be de-prioritised for export, as resource limitations require, when supporting documents cannot be authenticated through information sharing with New York DMV,” CBP said in a statement.
It said the decision comes as the State of New York implements the “Driver’s Licence Access and Privacy Act,” which, it claimed, prohibits CBP from accessing information maintained by the New York DMV.
“Without access to this information, CBP cannot properly complete security checks for Trusted Traveller Programme applications and renewals submitted by New York residents, greatly increasing our security risk,” the statement said.
CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan said “nothing is more important than the safety of the United States and our citizens, and the New York Green Light law makes us less safe and shields criminals. (CMC)
