Related videos:
The U.S. tourism and aviation industry reacted with alarm after it was revealed that the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, reiterated his threat to withdraw Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers from international airports located in so-called "sanctuary cities", a measure that could effectively cancel all incoming international flights at some of the country's major hub airports.
The U.S. Travel Association confirmed that Mullin reiterated the threat at a meeting with the industry, where the sector was urging the government on other proposals from the Trump administration that could impact tourism. The details of the meeting were originally reported by The Atlantic.
"La U.S. Travel Association believes that such a measure would have devastating consequences for the travel industry and the communities that rely on international visitors," the association stated in a press release on Saturday.
Airlines for America, the leading airline association, was equally emphatic: "Reducing CBP staff at major airports would have a devastating effect on aviation and tourism, causing significant operational disruption for airlines, travelers, and the international cargo flow."
Without CBP agents, the affected airports would be unable to process international arrivals, effectively halting all incoming international flights. The airports specifically mentioned by Mullin are San Francisco's SFO, Los Angeles' LAX, New York's JFK, and Chicago's O'Hare.
Even the Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, distanced himself from the proposal during a congressional hearing this week, noting that he does not find the idea sensible.
"We have people from all over the world and from across the country who need to be able to travel to all kinds of places. We shouldn't shut down air transportation in a state that doesn't align with our policy," Duffy said, who also warned that this logic could backfire on the Republicans if the Democrats regain power.
It is unclear how much support the proposal has within the administration. The measure has not been implemented and lacks confirmed legal basis.
The threat is part of a systematic escalation against sanctuary jurisdictions —those that limit the cooperation of their local authorities with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)—.
There is no strict legal definition of the term, but the courts already rejected during Trump's first term attempts to cut federal funding to these cities.
Mullin, who took office as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on March 24 replacing Kristi Noem, had first launched this proposal on April 7 during an interview with Fox News, where he rhetorically asked: "If they are a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?"
The Department of Justice published a list in October 2025 of about three dozen sanctuary jurisdictions, which includes 13 states, three counties, and 18 cities, among them Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Philadelphia, all with high-traffic international airports that would be exposed if the threat materializes.
Filed under: