What happened to Rhode Island's Global Entry Center for international air travelers?
When U.S. Customs and Border Protection closed the Warwick office that processed applications to its Global Entry program for international travelers in 2020, barely anyone was flying anyway with the COVID pandemic in full effect.
Four years later, air travel is booming again, and the office on Jefferson Boulevard remains shuttered with minimal explanation.
What does a Global Entry Enrollment Center do?
Global Entry provides expedited passage through U.S. border checkpoints to travelers who submit to a special background check, with mandatory in-person interview, that clears them as a low security risk.
The Ocean State's congressional delegation is now asking President Joe Biden's administration why Rhode Island frequent flyers are being made to go to Boston – or, worse, New York or New Jersey – to get an interview.
"It is disappointing that our constituents have been unable to conveniently schedule an in-person interview for nearly four years as the Rhode Island Global Entry Enrollment Center has been closed for renovations," the all-Democratic delegation of Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse and Representatives Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo wrote in a letter to CBP Acting Commissioner Troy Miller.
"This means Rhode Islanders have to drive almost two additional hours to conduct their interviews at the nearest open enrollment centers, making the interview process much more difficult and adding additional barriers to participating in the program," they said.
4 years ago, reason for office shutdown was 'renovations'
The only explanation offered in Custom and Border Protection's notice on July 6, 2020, that the Rhode Island Enrollment Center was not reopening after the spring COVID shutdown that closed all enrollment offices, was that the office needed to undergo "renovations," according to the delegation.
It is unclear whether any work has been done at the office building at 300 Jefferson Blvd., or whether the federal agency is looking at a possible alternative location for a new Enrollment Center.
Questions posed to the Department of Homeland Security's regional public affairs office Friday were not answered.
COVID, loss of international flights at T.F. Green contributing factors?
Along with COVID, the closure of the Global Entry Office also followed the loss of international flights from T.F. Green.
In 2017, the Customs and Border Protection immigration and inspection station at T.F. Green was quickly expanded to accommodate a surge in international flights by Norwegian Air.
But by the end of 2019, Norwegian was gone, along with Air Canada's service to Toronto, the last international flights to Green. Rhode Island airport officials are hoping to land new international flights that would bring the federal inspection station back into use.
A spokesman for Amo said he did not know whether the loss of international travel to Green had caused the closure of the Global Entry office.
Frustrations aired online about enrollment center's disappearance
The uncertainty surrounding when or if the Rhode Island Enrollment Center has caused its own frustration for some travelers who have been searching for appointment slots unaware the office never reopened.
"I just got conditionally approved, but the system doesn't show any available appointments, even through the end of 2023," poster SpaceBaseMasonry wrote in a 2021 thread on the social media site Reddit about Global Entry in Rhode Island.
"I've been looking for an appointment since June," Yelling_Jellyfish wrote in the thread.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Why did RI lose its Global Entry center for air travelers?
