Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin suggested Monday that he may retaliate against sanctuary cities by not allowing customs officers in their airports to admit international travelers.
Mullin, in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, grumbled about how his department has to deal with cities that limit or rule out cooperating with federal authorities’ attempts to enforce immigration law.
“Why is the Department of Homeland Security such a political hotbed? All they are doing is trying to keep our streets safe, trying to keep our nation secure, trying to keep bad actors from having terrorist attacks on the homeland,” he said. “It should be something we all get behind.”
Mullin, who took over the embattled department late last month after Donald Trump fired Kristi Noem, added that he didn’t believe it was “lawful” for sanctuary cities to exist. Therefore, he said, his department may do something to the major airports in them.
“One area we may take a hard look at is [how] some of these cities have international airports. If they are a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?” he asked.
“Seriously, if they are 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 are not going to enforce immigration policy, maybe we need have a really hard look at that, because we need to focus on cities that want to work with us.”
Baier, 55, followed up: “So, you are saying that big cities that are sanctuary cities that have a big airport, they might lose their customs?”
Mullin, 48, confirmed that that was a possibility.
“I’m saying we are going to have to start prioritizing things at some point,“ he said. ”Democrats are wanting to defund Customs and Border Patrol. Well, who processes those individuals when they walk off the plane? So, I’m going to have to be forced to make hard decisions. Who is willing to work with us and partner with us? Once again, I’m not going outside the policies that Congress passed for me. We’re not trying to pass those, but we are saying you have to partner with us."
Neither DHS nor CBP immediately responded to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
The federal government—as of last August—recognizes 12 states (plus Washington, D.C.), four counties, and 18 cities as sanctuary jurisdictions. International airports that could be targeted by Mullin are located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Boston, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Portland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, among other cities.
Millions of international travelers come through each airport annually. In 2025, the top 10 commercial airports in California alone saw approximately 3.6 million foreign passengers.
