New Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says they’re ‘looking at’ removing Customs and Border Protection officers from airports in sanctuary cities. That way, international travelers would not be able to fly to these airports. He also suggests that since Democrats are refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security, they should not benefit from it.
Mullin: I believe sanctuary cities is not lawful. Some of these cities have international airports. If they are a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city? We need to have a really hard look at that.
Baier: So you are saying that big cities that… pic.twitter.com/UAJxWFZtZI
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 6, 2026
This would most likely cover New York JFK; Los Angeles; Chicago O’Hare; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Seattle; Denver; Boston; Portland and Newark.
And it would mean an end to all international flights at affected airports. Flights with international pre-clearance at their international departure point would be allowed but are effectively domestic rather than international, and it would make little sense to maintain international departures as one-ways while eliminating arrivals in nearly all cases.
I’m trying to take this seriously, but the suggestion is insane.
- The ‘airports’ frequently aren’t even in the same jurisdiction as so-called sanctuary cities. Washington, D.C. is one, but its airport (Washington National) is in Arlington, Virginia with no Federal Inspection facility. That’s much further out Dulles (Dulles, Virginia). San Francisco International Airport is actually in unincorporated San Mateo County, adjacent to Millbrae and San Bruno, not in the City and County of San Francisco. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is actually in SeaTac, Washington.
And major airports like LAX (Los Angeles) and JFK (New York City) serve broad areas far beyond the cities with which they’re associated. People in Riverside, San Berndino and Orange County are flying non-stop to Los Angeles.
- Customs is not a ‘service for the city’ these are U.S. borders. inspection is not processing people into a city, it is processing entry into the United States regardless of final destination. These hub airports are convenient ways to get to Red States! People from elsewhere in the country are connecting beyond Los Angeles. They still have to clear customs at places like LAX and Chicago. None of this is a municipal privilege.
- Attempts to punish lawful activity. The administration may disagree with the idea of sanctuary cities (which is not a legal category, but we’ll use it here even though it condenses a wide range of policies), but these policies generally mean local officials limit how much they help enforce federal immigration law. Congress lacks the power to issue orders directly to the states (this is known as ‘anti-commandeering’). The federal government can, to some extent, penalize non-cooperation but it cannot directly order state and local compliance.
- Customs regulations actually lay out the criteria for where to deploy and that doesn’t include local officials made us mad The regulations lay out need, suitability, facilities, and usefulness as reasons. Withdrawal is based on business volume, inadequate facilities, noncompliance with federal rules, or another location being more useful.
- Doesn’t even target punishment at their enemies If the complaint is that local police or jails will not help ICE, then isn’t shutting down the federal inspection point at the airport and pulling officers a self-own? It certainly doesn’t punish the decision-makers, it targets returning U.S. citizens, lawful travelers, airlines, airport workers, tourism, cargo shippers, and everyone trying to move through a legal port of entry. And even in blue cities and states a substantial plurality are the President’s supporters, too.
- Undermines the economy which, by the way, primarily hurts Republicans in the midterms. The Port of Los Angeles supports millions of jobs and handles about 31% of all U.S. containerized international shipping. Southern California cargo is crucial for the national economy, for exporters, workers, retailers, and consumers all over the country.
- What even happens to airline schedules? International arrivals have to be at an airport with a Federal Inspection Station. So flights bound for JFK, LAX, Chicago O’Hare, et al have to go where exactly? And with fuel prices high, probably nowhere? And without international connecting traffic, what do airlines do with connecting flights that are supported by those passengers? Are we heading back to another airline subsidies regime to counteract the damage?
I don’t think I can reasonably be described as part of the left. In fact, I was once erroneously introduced on Fox News as the author of View From The Wing Wing. But this is not a smart suggestion even by the DHS Secretary’s own goals and priorities. And here some of you thought that the departure of Kristi Noem from DHS would mean a more serious policy regime. That appears to have been mistaken.
(HT: @crucker)
Do it and especially target liberal targets such as teterboro! Do you really think those billionaires are conservative, heck no!
Sure, I’ll take the bait, too. Go for it. Shoot our economy in both feet, legs, arms, torso, head. Just kill it. Why not. “What do you have to lose?” Thank you for your attention to this matter. Praise be to… (buncha jokers).
I totally agree with this
There will be an uproar from the airlines if this is serious and that will likely stop it. Sounds to me more like outlandish nonserious bombast.
Another shoot from the hip suggestion meant to grab headlines and divert attention from the real issues.
@DJ — No, no… this is ‘super cereal.’ Get outraged. Ignore the deadly and unnecessary war of choice, ignore the $6+ gallon gas, ignore the pending economic collapse, ignore the massive corruption and insider trading, and especially ignore the unaccountable oligarchs and their pedophile ring. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain… focus on ‘the great and powerful Oz!’ He’s gonna save us from those pesky immigrants/brown/trans people… /s
Of course this will never happen but hilarious calling out the wacko, liberal, leftist, open border, and no law enforcement Democrats.
What a surprise that another moron and sycophant is running DHS, in a cabinet full of morons and sycophants.
Many of those airports are UA international hubs. Kirby’s butt kissing doesn’t matter.
“Washington, D.C. is one, but its airport (Washington National) is in Arlington, Virginia.”
Here, though, it would Dulles, not National, affected by a CBP withdrawal.
I love this idea.
Huge fan of Leff AI. Is that Kayne pushing an airplane drink cart though the immigration line?
The only thing that sanctuary cuties do that Republicans don’t like is requiring a judicial warrant to detain someone for ICE if ICE could just follow the law and get that, this “debate” would be over. But they don’t want to, because they know many of their detentions wouldn’t pass that test.
But as you get see from at least one of the posters here, the derangements is real. It’s much better for them to have the ignorant foaming at the mouth with bogus right wing talking points than to actually educate anyone on the nuance or complexity of the issue.
“Washington National) is in Arlington, Virginia” Northern Virginia is about as liberal as it can get.
Look, it’s not going to happen. The idea that these jurisdictions are going to have to pass some purity test so that the traveling public as a whole can move about isn’t practical.
@Uncle Jeff — Well said. Also, we’re overdue for good-faith bi-partisan immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship (for DACA and others), hiring more judges, and increasing legal immigration, because it’s actually an economic, cultural, and moral benefit to the country.
Anyway, enough of that noise. Can we take wagers on whether our king is gonna nuke Iran or TACO?
Setting aside the hysterical responses here the question is do custom officials at these airports follow legal protocol when admitting foreigners into the US. If so, then they are doing their job. They can’t control the behavior once that individual enters. That’s the job of ICE.
If those airports are not following protocol then that’s a problem to deal with.
No bet, 1990. Anyone who stands with the Easter Bunny while giving a speech about the war he started (this is real news) has lost it. Anyway, a friend said that the administration runs on a laugh track. By that concept this is just another throwaway line to “fire up the base”. And the result? It will be as good as his, “concepts of a plan” to replace Obamacare, last heard of in 2024.
Guess we’re NOT talking about Epstein Files!
Didn’t rump hire an ex plumber to run it?
MAGA
@drrichard — 100%. This is pure distraction. And if it isn’t, it will fail spectacularly.
@George Romey — As I replied to your copy-pasted comment at OMAAT, you are not a serious person. We would need comprehensive bi-partisan immigration reform to resolve anything here. We need a path to citizenship (think Reagan’s amnesty bill, say, for DACA, the children of undocumented people already in the country for decades), and to hire more immigration judges to process those asylum claims in accordance with our laws, expeditiously. Senator Rubio and the Gang of Eight tried this in 2013; Senators Lankford, Murphy, Sinema tried something similar again in 2024. Dear Leader and the far-right shot it down, each time. They don’t want to fix this; they want to use it as a scapegoat, indefinitely. This is not resolved by vilifying and violently removing abuelas. I suspect folks such as yourself simply want to rid us of any and all diversity. Only wealthy, white, straight, conservative, Christian men who support Dear Leader to be in-charge, to even be citizens, to be able to vote, to own businesses or property, etc. That is not popular, dude.
@EVAN — I was. See my reference to “unaccountable oligarchs and their pedophile ring“ above.
If implemented, it would be an order of magnitude greater than whatever taxes or tariffs that resulted in the Boston Tea Party.
@1990 You just do not have critical thinking skills. You can only parrot what the Democratic Party tells you. Immigration reform has nothing to do with people that have broken a law and remained in the US illegally. My grandparents came here legally so don’t give me the “you’re a meany” bs. Their sacrifices allowed their daughter, my mother, and me to have the life they could have only dreamed about.
Airports should not suffer the or people that want to visit our country legally should suffer the consequences of idiot politicians or people that want cheap nannies, gardeners, or maids.
Let the adults in the room that can have independent thought have a conversation.
Sanctuary cities and states are nothing but DemocRAT harbors for illegals – period. All Federal funding should be stopped until these cities and states quit their anti America “sanctuary” bullshit.
The fishies are biting today!
@George Romey — No one here is actually ‘dumb.’ Willfully ignorant? Maybe. Realistically, you’re just a thinly-veiled pretend-intellectual bigot. No, you’re not the overt ones… (I see @David R. Miller is back, where’s @Walter Barry, @Coolio, @NotScott, our ‘hard-r’ folks). Naw, you got that high-brow hate. Hiding behind ‘if only they’d just follow the law.’ And, you often push the extreme punishments (ban them for life, 6 months prison, fire them out of a canon!) Yes, I, too, enjoy hyperbole at times. And, yeah, I know your go-to tropes… ‘but, but… I’m a Key… I work for a livin’… I have a business… I, too, am an immigrant family…’ Yup, you’re one of the good ones, sir. The leopards won’t eat your face. (See, I got my silly retorts, too. Fun.)
It’s supposed to be ‘We, the People,’ and we’ve had a rough history of failing to live up to those ideals. Let’s not go backwards or punch-down (the Stephen Millers, neo-Nazis, and neo-Confederates, of this world, are not our salvation); let’s actually solve these issues (like immigration), together (as those bi-partisan groups attempted).
Once Dear Leader is gone, there may be a chance, but I think he’s a symptom, not the cancer, here. There needs to be a rebalancing of the inequities (for all, not merely those select few at the top). The compromises learned from the past hardships have clearly been forgotten. We’re lazy, complicit. Capital has absolutely overreached. I am hopeful we will see some progress in the coming rounds, but it might have to get worse before it gets better, specifically with economic hardship, because you folks won’t play by the rules anymore (as seen by the generalized corruption, insider trading, offshoring, kleptocracy, etc.) Time will tell. 210 days. *ding ding*
Politics aside, restricting entry/exit to a small number of designated “international gateway” airports would likely do much to improve border security.
@Denver Refugee — Yeah, great, let’s restrict the flow of commerce (and people). Add nonsensical, burdensome regulations. Well said… *facepalm*
(You guys won’t like to hear it but… immigration is actually good for the economy… I know, wild.)
@1990 – The United States is the third-most-populous nation on Earth. Tourism is a scourge on the planet. Most business travel is being replaced with online conferencing.
As for freight, well, I can live with not getting sushi in landlocked states anymore.
Brilliant idea! So called ‘sanctuary cities’ will get into line in no time.
Most cities are liberal, even Dalt Lake City. Maybe copy the disastrous former Canadian policy of routing everything through Montreal, except designate a US city??? Maybe Orlando and Las Vegas?
@derek — Dalt Lake City? Was that a purposeful misspelling? Or are they into psychedelics there?
@L3 — Nah. (Huh. Odd for you to not find a way to shill for BILT, even in this thread.)
Sounds like typical Trump: exert maximum leverage to achieve our president’ mandate. Pretty clever actually.
Mullin: “If they are a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?” I’m pretty sure agents working for DHS process customs into this country. So, I entirely agree with you, the City of Chicago should not be processing customs at ORD. Since your department oversees that now, I suggest you continue to do so. I just provided an easy solution. You are welcome.
[Note for the record, I do not take a stance on sanctuary cities for this post. I’m just saying this is a silly nonstarter. But, of course, isn’t the point headlines rather than policy exploration?]
epstein files
Months ago they also threatened to remove US pre-clearance from some Canadian airports, due to reduced numbers of Canadians crossing the border.
Before he tries to apply such leverage to SFO and LAX, Mullin should be aware that in 2024 California paid $295B more to the federal government than it received back in funding. It’s consistently a “donor state.”
I saw Brent Crude just hit $145/barrel. Anyone tired of all the winning yet?
1990 – We are only tired of you whining. Where was your whining when brain dead Biden and the DemocRATs had $7 per gallon gas prices?
@George Romey
“Airports should not suffer the or people that want to visit our country legally should suffer the consequences of idiot politicians or people that want cheap nannies, gardeners, or maids.” You mean like the ones your leader hires, then fires at Mar A Lago.
@David R. Miller — That was pretty good. Turning winning to whining. $7? Oh, give it a little time… maybe… two more weeks.
Mark twonames is now the stupidest person in the Trump administration, and that’s a tough position to achieve.
1990 – Go have a good cry as oil prices plummet.
West Coast Flyer – AAnd you have demonstrated just how ignorantt West Coast morons are.
@David R. Miller — I sure hope so. I’m not a sadist. What is undeniable is that your guy caused this; we clearly did not need this war. It’s been a complete failure, like tariffs, and most of what he’s ever done, which leaves us poorer and worse off as a whole. Besides, we’re not out of this at all yet. 209 days until midterms. So, there is hope on the way (not for you, but for the rest of us).
@ 1990 Your comments aged very quickly. $140 barrel oil, nope. BTW, which “unnecessary” war are you referring to? If Iran, then I would check with Iran’s neighbors first…because I’m confident those missiles and drones departing Iran are not hauling Persian rugs for Amazon or DoorDash.
I didn’t post a comment about you yesterday and maybe I should have. I suggest you hold off comments until afternoon, when your caffeine level is back to normal. Your afternoon and early evening comments were much more logical and much less emotional.
@One Trippe — You’ve been hiding, sir. Welcome back. From dropping the F-bomb and “Praise be to. Allah” on Easter to “A whole civilization will die tonight” yesterday, and now TACO… who’s illogical and emotional? Might wanna check-in on the White House…
@ 1990 Again, until afternoon or early evening (to avoid any other depressants or stimulants that may impair your judgement).
@One Trippe — You’re right. We won. We’re great. Less coffee/tea. More alcohol/weed.
Tough talk just for headlines. Par for the course for this administration. Nothing will happen once they put pen to paper. Are A380’s from Sydney really going to fly to phx instead of lax? Sure. Send all cbp agents to those other cities. Oops the facilities aren’t equipped to handle the influx of international traffic. Horrible administration
This post cracks me up. Gary lists possible airports that may be affected, but then talks about DC which is not a sanctuary city. This is an elementary school writing error that should have no place is a professional writers post. C’mon Gary…you are letting emotion cloud your writing ability.
yes, Gary… the very thought of this is indeed insane. And living in Boston, and flying 5-6 times/year internationally, I would be impacted. You know what else is insane? The concept of sanctuary cities. Have we the people lost our minds? When did it become ok to harbor fugitives? Anyone that crosses our borders without going through a port of entry is a fugitive from justice. They broke the law and they should be deal with accordingly. Instead, we allow, somehow, cities to make a decision that they will protect them against deportation. Are you fu*king high? I think the reaction has to match the action. The action to create sanctuary cities was insane… it should be met with an insane reaction.
There are several different issues here. You can be concerned with immigration, and want cities and localities to assist federal law enforcement in addressing that. (The federal government cannot mandate this, under the constitution it can merely encourage it.) Linking this to the self-own of closing ports of entry in geographically proximate airports is still a stupid, counterproductive and self-owning way to go about punishing non-compliance.
Of course, the lunatics on the right want to cripple the United States economy by destroying the ability for foreigners to visit the best cities in America, which, to no one’s surprise, are liberal. No Canadian wants to visit a craphole city run by some whacked-up Republican in the bible belt.
@[Commenter name redacted] — Wonder what your name was (probably some “let’s go Bran…” b.s.) Anyhoo, next time you go 1mph over the speed limit, often a traffic citation is a misdemeanor, remember, undocumented immigrants are a similar non-criminal category… Both are breaking rules and laws, yet, only one gets your ire. I know, hard to empathize when you got Fox News on 24/7 at full-blast. You can lower the volume; your adult children will thank you later.