The logic is sound: The Department of Homeland Security is responsible for defending our borders and enforcing immigration laws, and sanctuary cities promise to prevent the DHS from doing either.
That’s unacceptable for many reasons, but one surely is that such cities become ports of entry for aliens who may be illegally migrating to the country and then be given sanctuary by the governments of these places.
DHS drafting plans to stop processing flights to sanctuary cities https://t.co/9ep9H2XBL7
— Just the News (@JustTheNews) May 27, 2026
DHS is considering a partial solution to the sanctuary city problem: preventing international flights from being processed in those places.
The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to end its processing of international flights to so-called “sanctuary cities,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed this week.
Sanctuary cities are municipalities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement in deportations efforts. Many refuse to refer criminals in their custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and some allegedly provide public benefits to non-citizens.
“[W]e’re currently drawing up plans to say, listen, these sanctuary cities where the local radical left Democrats aren’t allowing us to do our jobs and enforce federal laws, then we shouldn’t be processing international flights into their cities either,” Mullin said on Fox News. Mullin cited protests at immigration centers in those municipalities as a partial justification.
He did, however, confirm that DHS was not yet planning to implement the halt.
BOOM! That’s like dropping a nuclear bomb on cities like Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco…
Any city with a large service economy or a strong presence in the high-tech industry depends heavily on the free flow of people from around the world. Almost by definition, Blue area economies are particularly vulnerable to the closure of airports to international flights.
The idea, obviously, is to bring maximum pressure to places that are resisting the federal government’s enforcement of its laws, and there is little doubt that if DHS could do so, it would certainly change the calculus for local politicians.
But it’s hard to imagine that such an effort wouldn’t get tied up in courts for years, and even harder to imagine that you could get even decent majorities of Republicans in Congress to go along. No doubt many of them fly home to airports serving “sanctuary” cities. Blue cities in Red states are common enough.
DHS head doubles down on plan to cripple all international travel into airports in sanctuary cities – including NYC pic.twitter.com/8EDR4XU0KY
— New York Post (@nypost) May 27, 2026
Secretary Mullin apparently isn’t deterred. Even if he could only close an airport for a day, it would have a massive impact, and create uncertainty for international travelers.
Mullin told Fox News host Sean Hannity that federal immigration agents have no obligation to assist in the customs process if so-called “sanctuary” jurisdiction officials won’t let “the worst of the worst” criminal illegal aliens be deported.
“They’re barricading our employees from coming in and out of the facility, then why are we processing international flights into the airport there?” asked Mullin on “Hannity.”
And obviously, the argument for this is sound enough. Although we could argue whether it is wise to have a longer-term closure of airports to international travel in cities like New York, which, whatever else you can say about it, is a massive economic engine.
“We are currently drawing up plans to say, ‘Listen, in 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 because they don’t want us to enforce immigration,’” added the DHS boss.
Up to 50 million international passengers came through JFK, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty International airports in 2025.
Mullin has pushed for the policy over the objections of airline industry executives and trade associations — as well as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
You can see why Duffy doesn’t love the idea; his job is to improve mobility for people, and not to enforce immigration law. And that’s no small thing either. A not inconsiderable fraction of our economic growth since the invention of the automobile, the spread of airports, and the building out of a massive highway system has been driven or enabled by massively expanding mobility of goods and people.
But of course, security and prosperity are always in tension, just as privacy and safety are. The more you emphasize one, the higher the cost for the other.
This suggests that this is a threat, not a long-term policy. But it is a potent one. Nuclear options often are.
Editor’s Note: We voted for mass deportations, not mass amnesty. Help us continue to fight back against those trying to go against the will of the American people.
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