Department of Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin has doubled down on threats to remove Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers from airports located in places the Trump administration considers to be sanctuary cities.
"We're currently drawing up plans to say in 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 told Fox News' Sean Hannity on May 26.
He noted that the administration is not yet initiating any actions.
The proposal has drawn stiff rebukes from Airlines for America and the U.S. Travel Association. Pausing, or even diminishing, international entry capacity at one or more major airports would impact not only travelers to those cities, but also connecting passengers with destinations across the U.S.
"U.S. Travel believes such a move would have devastating consequences for the travel industry and communities that depend on international visitation," the trade group said in a statement.
Mullin didn't mention specific airports or cities in his discussion with Fox News, but last year the Department of Justice published a list of what the administration considers to be sanctuary counties and cities, including a bevy of international flight hubs: Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Seattle and San Francisco.
Mullin made his comments at the tail end of a discussion in which he condemned protests outside an ICE detention center in Newark.