US draws up plans to halt immigration, customs processing at 'sanctuary city' airports

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

May 26, 2026 11:03 PM EDT Updated 2 hours ago


WASHINGTON, May 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Trump administration is drawing up plans to stop processing international travelers and cargo at ​major U.S. airports in "sanctuary cities" that have declined to cooperate with an immigration crackdown.

The ‌move could effectively halt international air travel and commerce at major airports in Democratic states, with millions of foreign tourists expected to stream in for next month's start of the FIFA World Cup. Mullin told Fox News Channel's ​Sean Hannity in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that he had met White House ​officials but emphasized no decision had been made whether to proceed.

"We are currently - ⁠which we're not initiating yet - but we're currently drawing up plans," Mullin said. "We shouldn't be processing ​international flights into their cities," he added, in a reference to sanctuary cities, where he suggested "local ​radical left Democrats aren't allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws."

Last week, Reuters and other media reported that Mullin had privately told U.S. travel executives his department could opt to stop customs and immigrations processing ​of international travelers. The U.S. Justice Department published a list of so-called sanctuary cities and states that ​included many cities with major international airports. Among these were Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, ‌Seattle ⁠and San Francisco.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-drawing-up-plans-halt-immigration-customs-processing-sanctuary-city-airports-2026-05-27/

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REFERENCES

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143668303
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143669458

[Blues Heron]

1. these people are insane

[sinkingfeeling]

2. There will go hundreds of billion of dollars and thousands of jobs.

[kysrsoze]

3. Idiots. That's almost every every major international hub. International travel to/from the U.S. will grind to a halt.

[maxsolomon]

4. Extortion. There's no other rationale.

Hey idiots, "Sanctuary Cities" is pretty much just a name - not actual impactful policy. CPB and ICE operate all over WA state with no impediments.

Seatac Airport isn't even IN Seattle, and it's controlled by the Port of Seattle, not the "radical leftists" in City Hall.

Trumpists are fixated on Sanctuary Cities - because the RW echo chamber is fixated on it - how dare Liberals defy us!

[SamuelAdams]

5. It's hard to believe anyone could be this dumb.

They are going to reject vacationers spending their money in our country; hurt the economy even more right before the midterms.

[Blue_playwright]

7. next move is to prevent US from traveling internationally

[odins folly]

11. Or, and hear me out

International travel has already been impacted by this administration’s asshole policies, so now they can shut down the almost nonexistent inbound traffic and in tun blame that all on libtards….get it???

It’s brilliant, so simple and yet 5-D’ish in its complexity…..dear leader will be so proud of his new boy markymarkwaynesworld…..

[dalton99a]

6. Genius move. Do it.

[OGBuzz]

8. This smells like an extortion scheme is brewing.

Who would all those 'sanctuary cities' have to pay bribes to, in order to keep their airports open to international travel? And where did Trump get this idiotic idea, could it be it came from Iran threatening to impose toll on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz?

[IcyPeas]

9. Bye-bye world cup.

Bye-bye tourism

Bye-bye air travel

Bye-bye international students


Could he really be this stupid.....

[orangecrush]

10. Yes

[dickthegrouch]

12. This is inherently an admission that funds are being mis-spent by the federal government.

If they didn't need something from those sanctuary cities, as well as the perception of giving to them, they would have no leverage.
Hold your ground, sanctuary cities. It's the only thing thugs respect, even at the same time as they concede defeat by killing you, and thinking that's a sign that they won.

[dickthegrouch]

13. And the implementation is likely to be overnight as usual, causing maximum chaos to multiple industries and individuals.

Why they are unable to give even 30 days notice of such significant changes is completely beyond me.
Chaos is the only explanation for such stupidity.

[Oneironaut]

14. In the MAGA world view, blue states are not American.

Therefore, they are ok with anything that destroys blue states, even if it hurts them too. In their minds, this is no different than being at war with Iraq, or, North Korea.

They are not hurting America. They are destroying the economy of blue states, like you would a hostile foreign enemy.

Cable News fried their brains, and, they are so propagandized that they want to destroy anyone who isn’t MAGA. It’s a cult.