US draws up plans to halt immigration, customs processing at 'sanctuary city' airports [View all]

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/