Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has spent months talking about removing federal personnel from airports in so-called sanctuary cities, and by all appearances, the Oklahoma Republican is increasingly serious about the idea. During a Fox News appearance on Thursday, he described a potential scenario in which he’s “gonna have to pull” customs officials from these airports.
This was hardly the first such threat. Earlier in the week, Mullin also said he and his administration colleagues are “currently drawing up plans” to stop “processing international flights” into these cities. (“Sanctuary cities” refers to areas in which local governments limit police cooperation with federal immigration authorities.)
The public comments came on the heels of multiple reports that the DHS secretary privately told U.S. travel executives that his department was prepared to stop customs and immigration processing for international travelers in these cities. Soon after, the U.S. Travel Association said it had also spoken to the secretary and that he told the trade group’s representatives he’s serious about these plans.
What’s more, it’s not just Mullin. On Thursday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, still engaged in a shameless audition to receive a permanent nomination from Donald Trump, also appeared on Fox News and defended the DHS threats.
A day later, Republican Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana also offered his enthusiastic support for the tactic.
Fox’s Harris Faulkner also endorsed the proposed plan, arguing that major airlines would simply redirect flights to Republican-held areas, creating a “boon for red states.”
It is too soon to say when or whether the administration might pull the trigger on such an idea, and if this is intended as part of an intimidation campaign, it’s unlikely to work out well: It’s not as if officials in many of the nation’s largest cities are suddenly going to overhaul their approach to immigration policy just to prevent Mullin from sabotaging many of the busiest airports in the Western Hemisphere.
But if there’s going to be a public conversation about this, it’s important that the relevant players understand basic facts.
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According to Trump’s Justice Department, the list of cities it considers “sanctuary cities” includes Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. Collectively, international flights in and out of the airports in these cities is constant, enormous and vital to American business interests.
The idea that airlines will somehow create a “boon for red states” by rerouting flights elsewhere isn’t just wrong, it’s ridiculous. There aren’t enough gates in smaller airports to accommodate such an influx, and even if there were, many international travelers simply wouldn’t make the trip to major cities if they are told they first had to land several hundred miles away.
There’s no great mystery as to what would happen: Airlines would start cancelling flights, which in turn would further undermine an already weakened economy.
I’m still skeptical anything will come of this. Such a drastic move would face furious pushback from major airlines and businesses that rely on international flights, as well as state and local officials who would argue persuasively that such a policy appears to be illegal.
That said, those placing “Team Trump wouldn’t go that far” bets over the last year and a half have lost money. Watch this space.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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