Airline trade groups and even Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have hit back at a proposal from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that could have a “devastating” effect on travel and tourism in major blue cities.
Mullin floated the plan to halt customs processing at “sanctuary city” airports that refuse to cooperate with the Trump administration’s immigration agenda in an April Fox News interview — and again in a May 13 meeting with airline and travel industry leaders, The Atlantic first reported.
Top travel trade associations have since come out publicly against the proposal, which was reportedly aimed at airports in New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco.
“Reducing CBP staffing at major airports would have a devastating effect on the airline and tourism industries, causing a significant operational disruption to carriers, travelers and the flow of international cargo,” Airlines for America, the largest trade association for the industry in the US, said in a statement.
The US Travel Association, which represents airlines as well as hotels and other travel businesses, said that for “domestic and international inbound travel alike, we urge governments at all levels to adopt policies that promote the free and efficient flow of legitimate travelers.”
Duffy himself batted down the suggestion in a House Budget Committee hearing on Thursday.
“We have people from around the world and around the country that need to be able to fly into all different kinds of places,” the cabinet official said. “We shouldn’t shut down air travel in a state that doesn’t agree with our politics.”
Around 50 million international travelers landed at the Big Apple’s three main airports alone in 2025.
In the April 6 Fox interview, Mullin had openly questioned whether sanctuary cities with international airports should “be processing customs.” --->READ MORE HERE
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| Jacquelyn Martin / AP |
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told travel executives he may target airports in cities that don’t help ICE
In early April, shortly after Markwayne Mullin took over the Department of Homeland Security, he floated an idea on Fox News that wasn’t taken seriously; it sounded, in fact, like a proposal from someone very new on the job: Mullin threatened to cut federal screening of international passengers and cargo at airports in cities with “sanctuary” policies, which limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Such a move would trigger flight cancellations to airports in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other major cities and force airlines to reroute to other destinations. Mullin’s proposal seemed more like a wild swing than a real plan.
The new secretary is pushing forward anyway. Last Wednesday, Mullin convened a small group of airline and travel-industry executives at DHS headquarters in Washington and told them he may reduce Customs and Border Protection staffing at major airports that serve sanctuary jurisdictions. Mullin told the executives the locations could include Portland International Airport, in Oregon; New York City–area airports such as John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport; and Washington Dulles International Airport, according to two people with knowledge of the discussion who were not authorized to speak publicly. Mullin did not indicate when DHS would begin the pullback, but it would likely occur sometime after the United States finishes hosting the World Cup in July, the two people told me.
Travel executives are alarmed, and have told DHS that international travelers and cargo cannot be easily routed elsewhere, these people said. The disruption would cause chaos in major U.S. airports and inflict significant economic damage beyond the cities Mullin is seeking to pressure, executives have told the department. “The message was this is a real proposal that is being considered by the administration,” one of the people with knowledge of the meeting told me, calling the potential impact on the airline industry “devastating.”
When Mullin first mentioned the idea during the interview on Fox News, he described it as a creative way to pressure the cities to comply with ICE. The Trump administration wants access to city and county jails so ICE officers can take custody of potential deportees before they are released. “If they’re a sanctuary city and they’re receiving international flights, and we’re asking them to partner with us at the airport, but once they walk out of the airport, they’re not going to enforce immigration policy—maybe we need to have a really hard look at that,” Mullin said. “I’m going to have to be forced to make hard decisions.”
Mullin’s proposal appears to reflect a thin grasp of global-travel logistics, as well as an inflated sense of the government’s ability to impose economic pain on specific cities, according to industry executives and former DHS officials I spoke with. The U.S. airports where international travelers and cargo first arrive are often not their final destination. A German business traveler flying into JFK may be en route to a meeting in Cincinnati. A Korean family landing at Los Angeles International Airport could be headed for Disney World. The proportion of economic pain imposed on sanctuary cities might be relatively small compared with the wider ripple effects on the U.S. travel industry.
“If you thought the economy was bad with Trump’s war driving prices at the pump up … just wait until international travel is halted at some of the busiest airports in the world,” California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press account posted to X after Mullin first mentioned the proposal. “Talk about a stupid idea.”
DHS declined to respond to questions about Mullin’s meeting with the travel executives, instead pointing me to his interview with Fox News six weeks ago. One senior administration official told me no decision on the airport plan has been made, but DHS is looking at several ways to gain more leverage over sanctuary cities. Those options could include curbing federal benefits programs for legal immigrants through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, such as green-card processing or citizenship naturalizations. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the internal discussions, said those options remain preliminary.
Mullin and other administration officials have been looking for new ways to revive the mass-deportation campaign President Trump promised in 2024. The administration last year tried pressuring sanctuary cities—including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis—by flooding their streets with thousands of Border Patrol agents and ICE officers. That phase of the campaign came to an end, at least for now, after the killing of two protesters in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. --->READ MORE HERE
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