New Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin has suggested that his department could pull Customs and Border Protection officers from major international airports in so-called ‘sanctuary cities’, essentially crippling global air travel into these cities ahead of the FIFA World Cup in June.
In an interview with FOX News, Mullin, who was only confirmed as DHS Secretary on March 24 following the sudden removal of Kristi Noem as the department’s head, said it was an area that he was now “taking a hard look at.”
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.
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 6, 2026
Baier: So you are saying that big cities that… pic.twitter.com/UAJxWFZtZI
Speaking with Fox News Chief Political Anchor Bret Baier, the former senator of Oklahoma, said: “One area we may take a hard look at is some of these cities have international airports. If these are sanctuary cities, should they really be processing customs into their city?”
“Seriously, if they are a sanctuary city, and they are receiving international flights, and we are 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 really need to have a really hard look at that because we need to focus on cities that want to work with us.”
Baier then sought to lock down the point that Mullin was making, asking: “So you’re saying big cities that are sanctuary cities that have a big airport, they might lose their customs?”
Mullin did not deny this suggestion, instead saying: “I’m saying we’re going to have to start prioritizing things at some point, right now, remember the Democrats are wanting to defund Customs and Border Patrol.
“Well, who processes those individuals when they walk off the plane? So I’m going to be forced to make hard decisions. Who’s willing to work with us and partner with us?”
There is no legal definition of what a ‘sanctuary city’ is, although the term is often used by lawmakers to describe jurisdictions where local police and authorities limit how much they cooperate with federal immigration enforcement agencies like ICE.
Last year, the Department of Justice (DOJ), under the leadership of sacked former Attorney General Pam Bondi, published an official list of 18 sanctuary cities, which include:
- Boston
- Chicago
- Denver
- Los Angeles
- New York
- Newark
- Philadelphia
- Seattle
- San Francisco
Yanking Customs and Border Protection from these jurisdictions would ground international flights at some of the biggest international gateway airports into and out of the United States, including Boston Logan, Chicago O’Hare, Denver International, Los Angeles, New York JFK, and Newark.
If Mullin’s comments were extended to the DOJ’s list of ‘sanctuary states,’ then international arrivals into San Diego, and Minneapolis-St. Paul would also be affected.
Airports into those eleven main airports that could be impacted by Mullin’s threat processed approximately 132 million international passengers in 2024, the most recent year for which full figures are currently available.
Pulling CBP from sanctuary city airports would have an outsized impact on New York JFK, where international passengers account for around 57% of the airport’s total passenger volume.
In June, some of these airports, including Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, and San Francisco, are expected to host tens of thousands of international arrivals for the FIFA soccer World Cup, which is being hosted in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem faced a rebuke from the White House when she unilaterally shut down TSA PreCheck and CBP’s Global Entry service in the early days of the partial government shutdown, which is still affecting DHS.
The Trump administration acted quickly to reverse the TSA PreCheck closure, although the Global Entry shutdown was allowed to drag on for several weeks before a U-turn was quietly performed.
