DHS sanctuary – Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the agency is drafting plans that could block international flights into sanctuary cities, including New York City, where limits on local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement have drawn federal ire.
For air travelers arriving in New York, the worry isn’t abstract. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said the federal government is drawing up plans that could target sanctuary cities—starting with international flights that would otherwise land in places like New York City.
In remarks to Fox News this week. Mullin said the agency is working on a message aimed at local jurisdictions he says are refusing to allow federal enforcement to work as intended. He described it as: “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.”.
Mullin’s focus on aviation is not new. Last month, he said he was considering pulling Customs and Border Patrol officers out of sanctuary city airports—an idea he framed in terms of cooperation at the airport versus what happens after travelers leave.
“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,” Mullin said.
The proposal. as described by Mullin. would be disruptive by design: it centers on stopping the processing of international arrivals at airports serving major cities. New York City. which the administration has labeled a sanctuary city. would sit near the center of any plan aimed at “some of the biggest cities in the country. ” with the potential to ripple across air travel.
The definition at the heart of the dispute is simple: sanctuary cities are jurisdictions considered to limit the information they provide to federal immigration officers.
The Department of Justice’s sanctuary city list includes Albuquerque. New Mexico; Berkeley; Boston; Chicago; Denver; East Lansing. Michigan; Hoboken. New Jersey; Jersey City. New Jersey; Los Angeles; New Orleans; Newark. New Jersey; Paterson. New Jersey; Philadelphia; Portland. Oregon; Rochester. New York; Seattle; and San Francisco.
The list also underscores how broad the federal pressure could be, if Mullin’s plan moves from rhetoric into enforcement. A cutoff tied to international flights would not only affect one city—it would touch a network of airports and travelers moving through some of the most traveled hubs in the country.
What remains unclear is the practical machinery of enforcement. Mullin has not said which airports would be targeted or exactly how international flights would be blocked. In particular. it is not immediately clear how DHS would implement any rule. or whether the agency would follow through if the plan encountered legal or operational obstacles.
That uncertainty matters because aviation runs on tight schedules and coordinated procedures. If officials tried to shift processing rules quickly, even limited changes could turn into immediate disruptions for travelers and airlines.
Mullin’s comments also land against a backdrop of legal friction over whether sanctuary cities can be compelled to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Mullin said he does not think sanctuary cities are legal while answering questions at a roundtable in Chimney Rock.
When the federal government threatens to step in at the airport gate rather than after people leave it, the conflict shifts from policy debate to everyday movement—where delays, reroutes, and missed connections can quickly become the real cost of a political fight.
As of now, Mullin’s plan is still described as something DHS is “currently drawing up plans” to pursue, leaving travelers, airlines, and local officials with more questions than answers about how far the threat could go.
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