Homeland Security Sec. Markwayne Mullin has repeatedly threatened to pull Customs and Border Protection resources from airports in so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
Mullin has made comments on the subject since being confirmed to his position in April, but he’s stepped up those threats in recent days in multiple interviews on Fox News.
“If CBP isn’t there processing international flights, then those individuals when the airlines land won’t be permitted into the United States,” he said in an interview on “Fox & Friends” Thursday. “If things don’t change, we’re gonna have to make this step pretty quick.”
The news has sparked intense backlash from numerous trade groups, including the Airlines for America group, a trade association whose members include major airlines like American, United and Delta.
“Reducing [Customs and Border Protection] 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,” the group said in a statement to CNBC.
Even other officials in the administration have questioned the proposal, including Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy.
“We have people from around the world and around the country that need to be able to fly into all different kinds of places. We shouldn’t shut down air travel in a state that doesn’t agree with our politics,” Duffy told the Associated Press.
The United States has identified more than two-dozen so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions that prohibit law enforcement from cooperating with domestic immigration enforcement operations. That list includes both Chicago and the state of Illinois, and also includes major travel hubs like New York, Los Angeles and Atlanta.
The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to withhold funding from those jurisdictions, but they’ve been stopped by multiple court orders, including a recent ruling in San Francisco last year.
The administration has criticized Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for their immigration policies, which they argue cause safety concerns for Americans.
The Illinois TRUST Act generally prohibits local law enforcement in Illinois from participating in immigration enforcement. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the law, but Pritzker defended it during hearings on Capitol Hill last year.
“Safe and compassionate immigration policies, I believe, are vital. In fact, my own family owes everything to this country accepting a young refugee named Nicholas Pritzker to its shores over a century ago,” he said. “As I have consistently said, violent criminals have no place on our streets, and if they are undocumented, I want them out of Illinois and out of our country.”
Chicago’s “Welcoming City Ordinance” prohibits city employees from asking about or assisting investigations into an individual’s immigration status unless required by a court. It also prohibits city services from being denied to individuals based on immigration status, and prohibits Chicago police from complying with federal immigration enforcement.
Johnson said the bill is critical to addressing crime, as it protects individuals who come forward to testify in criminal proceedings. He says the Trump administration has repeatedly mischaracterized the city’s laws and that they are beneficial to residents.
“As mayor of Chicago, nothing is more important to me than the safety and well-being of all residents,” he said. “We must not let mischaracterizations and fear-mongering obscure the reality that Chicago’s crime rates are trending down. We still have a long way to go, but sensationalizing tragedy in the name of political expediency is not governing, it’s grandstanding,”
Such laws have repeatedly withstood judicial scrutiny, though the Trump administration has continued to challenge them.
FWD, an organization promoting pro-immigration policies, estimates that Mullin’s proposal would have devastating consequences for the travel industry, as so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions handle the majority of international flights arriving in the United States.
“It would crash the economy,” Todd Schulte, the group’s president, said in a social media post.
The news comes at a time when international tourism to the United States is expected to pick up with the beginning of the World Cup next month, but tourists have been coming to the country in lower numbers. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, four million fewer tourists visited the United States in 2025 than in the previous year, resulting in a nearly 5% drop in tourism-related spending.
