Trump Admin Taking 'Hard Look' at Sanctuary City Airports, DHS Secretary Says

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin mentioned Monday that the Trump administration may take a "hard look" at customs enforcement at international airports located in sanctuary cities.

The Interview: Mullin sat down with the host of Fox News Special Report, Bret Baier, where he said "Some of these cities have international airports—if they're a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?" Mullin added that "If they're a sanctuary city, and they're receiving international flights, and we're 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 need to have a really hard look at that because we need to focus on cities that want to work with us."

"Very Difficult Choice": Neil Munro, writing opinion for Breitbart (Right bias) called Mullin's plan "novel," saying it "is built on federal authority, and it bypasses prior lawsuits that have blocked federal agency officials from withholding Congress's appropriations for the amnesty cities." Munro said the plan "is a serious economic threat to the Ponzi Scheme economic-growth-by-migration policies adopted by Los Angeles, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, New York, and many other so-called 'sanctuary cities.'" Munro asserted that if the plan were enacted, it would "force amnesty-city Democrats into a very difficult choice: Whether to support the big taxpaying businesses that need local international flights and cargo deliveries, or else to side with Democrats' alliance of local businesses and government employees who profit from the imported illegal-migrant population of workers, renters, consumers, welfare and healthcare recipients, and K-12 kids."

"Turbulent times": A Daily Beast (Left) headline read  "ICE Cowboy Plotting to Sabotage America's Biggest Airports," calling the developments "Turbulent Times." The article said Mullin "grumbled" to Baier "about how his department has to deal with cities that limit or rule out cooperating with federal authorities' attempts to enforce immigration law," adding that Mullin "may retaliate against" these cities. The article highlighted that "millions of international travelers come through each airport annually," saying in 2025 "California alone saw approximately 3.6 million foreign passengers."

"Moment Of Significant Turmoil": Newsweek (Center) framed Mullin's remarks around what the article called "concern on social media." The article highlighted an X post from California Governor Gavin Newsom's Press Office saying, "If you thought the economy was bad with Trump's war driving prices at the pump up … just wait until international travel is halted at some of the busiest airports in the world. Talk about a stupid idea (no wonder it's being considered by the Trump Admin)."  The article called Mullin's ascension to lead DHS "a moment of significant turmoil," referencing the recent "airport chaos" caused by lack of DHS funding and former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's "ouster."

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