Cuomo to offer Trump access to Trusted Traveler applicant data in exchange for access to Global Entry

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will meet with President Trump on Thursday and reportedly offer federal officials access to state Department of Motor Vehicles databases to verify access to the federal Trusted Traveler Program in exchange for restored access to the Global Entry program for New Yorkers, according to a WNBC report.

The reported move comes after Cuomo announced in an interview on a Buffalo radio station on Tuesday that he had requested a personal meeting with the president to discuss the restrictions placed on the Trusted Traveler Program last week.

“I don’t believe, Alan, as governor I get to say, ‘Well I don’t like that person and therefore I’m not going to do something that might help my state.’ If they kick us out of the TTP program, that’ll have a dramatic effect on this state, on the border crossings, et cetera,” Cuomo told Alan Chartock on WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

“I’m calling their bluff by saying, ‘You said you want access to the DMV database for TTP, I’ll give it to you.’ I don’t believe that’s what they want, they don’t need it, there’s no connection. I believe they just want political noise because they really want to make their argument about immigration,” he added.

Cuomo’s comments came after he and Trump exchanged barbs on Twitter over the weekend.

A spokesperson for Cuomo’s office on Wednesday said that the expected deal would only be to verify applicants to the Trusted Traveler Program, not for immigration enforcement.

“This would be specific to a person who is applying for trusted traveler program ONLY — these are ppl who already go through extensive background checks and in person interviews w federal authorities,” Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa clarified Thursday ahead of the meeting.

This would be specific to a person who is applying for trusted traveler program ONLY — these are ppl who already go through extensive background checks and in person interviews w federal authorities https://t.co/CzCJfZq7AW

— Melissa DeRosa (@melissadderosa) February 12, 2020

“The Governor believes that, as the TTP program is administered by DHS with in-person interviews and an exhaustive federal background check process, the state’s database is irrelevant and DHS’s request is unnecessary,” Cuomo communications director Dani Lever said in a statement. “In any event, DHS stated governmental needs can be met by the State which can provide DMV data for TTP enrollee cases. With all logical governmental rationales extinguished, the TTP blockage is clearly politically motivated, an abuse of government power, and illegal.”

Acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli had previously said the state had been barred from the program because it could not vet applicants without the data in question, while New York officials argued it was a retaliatory move for the state’s immigration policies.

State Attorney General Letitia James (D) sued the federal government over the move earlier this week, saying, “Make no mistake, this is an attack, a full attack, a frontal attack on New York’s rights as a sovereign state.”

James’s office said it stood by its lawsuit.

”We filed our lawsuit to ensure that the Trusted Traveler Program is reinstated for applicants from New York, and nothing has changed,” James’ office told The Hill in a statement. “Attorney General James is doing everything in her power to stop President Trump from punishing New Yorkers.”

— Updated at 3:04 p.m.