New Jersey protesters spent Memorial Day weekend physically barricading federal employees inside an immigration detention center.
Markwayne Mullin watched that and started drawing up plans that sanctuary city mayors never once considered possible.
What he found gives Washington a weapon that requires no new law, no congressional vote, and no judge's approval.
DHS Plans to Pull CBP Customs Agents from Sanctuary City Airports
Federal law requires U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to be physically present before any international flight can land and clear passengers or cargo.
No CBP inspectors, no international arrivals.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed his office is "drawing up" plans to pull CBP agents from airports in sanctuary cities – a move that would make it illegal for international flights to land there.
The trigger was direct: protesters outside Newark's Delaney Hall detention center were blocking federal employees from entering and exiting the facility.
Mullin said on Fox News: "Listen, these sanctuary cities where the local radical left Democrats aren't allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws – then we shouldn't be processing international flights into their cities either."
The airports in the crosshairs include JFK, LaGuardia, Newark, LAX, O'Hare, San Francisco, Seattle, Logan in Boston, Philadelphia, Portland, and Denver.
Newark Liberty alone handled 24.5 million international passengers last year.
This is not a new idea invented under pressure. Mullin raised the concept in his first interview as DHS Secretary in April, asking on Fox News's Special Report: "If they're a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?" What changed is the escalation – from a question worth asking to plans actively being drawn up.
Karen Bass Dismisses Mullin Threat as World Cup Looms Over LAX
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass dismissed the proposal outright. "I doubt seriously that he would follow through with that," Bass said.
Bass told reporters she has spoken with Mullin and believes the upcoming World Cup – which begins in Los Angeles in weeks – makes the plan unrealistic.
"I am sure that there's nobody in the administration that wants the World Cup to be a fiasco and if you were to pull custom agents and people could not come into the country that would disrupt the games," she said.
Bass is betting a soccer tournament shields her from federal enforcement consequences.
That calculation may hold for the next few weeks. The World Cup ends in July. The sanctuary policies don't.
Sean Duffy Breaks With Mullin on Sanctuary City Airport Crackdown
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy publicly distanced himself from the plan at a congressional hearing. "We shouldn't shut down air travel in a state that doesn't agree with our politics," Duffy said.
Duffy's objection carries weight. But Duffy is not the one watching sanctuary city officials physically obstruct federal detention facilities. Mullin is.
The U.S. Travel Association warned that pulling CBP officers would have "devastating consequences for the travel industry and communities that depend on international visitation." Major airlines echoed that alarm.
Sanctuary mayors are banking on that industry panic as their shield. It's a genuine pressure point – the travel sector has lobbyists, employees, and tax revenue behind it.
The leverage works because the cost is real.
Sanctuary mayors spent years operating on one assumption: Washington would threaten, then fund them anyway. Grant clawbacks got litigated into irrelevance. Congressional fights dragged on for years. Every previous pressure campaign gave these mayors time to lawyer up, organize protests, and wait Trump out.
Pulling CBP officers is a different animal entirely. Federal staffing decisions are not subject to injunction, appropriations fights, or notice-and-comment rulemaking. Mullin picks up the phone, the inspectors leave, and the next Air France flight to LAX gets turned around.
Mullin has now said publicly – twice, on the record, on Fox News – that plans are being drawn up. A DHS spokesperson has provided no timeline.
Sanctuary city mayors built their political identity on the bet that defiance carried no price. Mullin just put one on the menu.
Sources:
- Brooke Shafer, "International flights could stop in 'sanctuary cities': DHS boss Markwayne Mullin," NewsNation, May 28, 2026.
- Rob Hayes, "DHS boss Markwayne Mullin threatens to pull customs officers from airports in sanctuary cities, including LAX," ABC7 Los Angeles, May 28, 2026.
- Charles Creitz, "Mullin weighs using airport customs as leverage against sanctuary cities," Fox News, April 8, 2026.
- Nora Moriarty, "DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin signals closer scrutiny of customs at major sanctuary city airports," Fox News, April 6, 2026.
- "Travel industry worries after Trump administration reiterates threat to sanctuary city airports," The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2026.
