Pulling customs from ‘sanctuary’ city airports would cause chaos nationally, business groups say
Travel industry and business leaders are denouncing a proposal by Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to remove customs officers from airports in liberal cities, saying it would create havoc for travelers and jeopardize the travel economy at some of the nation’s largest ports of entry.
The idea, which Mr. Mullin has floated on cable television interviews, is designed to punish so-called sanctuary cities that limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Customs officers monitor goods flowing in and out of the country and must be on hand for international flights. Removing customs from airports would mean they cannot accept incoming international flights.
“Any reduction in Customs and Border Protection operations at major U.S. gateway airports threatens to cause unnecessary chaos throughout the nation’s air transportation system,” a coalition of travel and business trade groups, including the U.S. Travel Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a statement Friday. The fallout of making such changes at even a handful of gateway airports, the statement added, “will quickly ripple across the country.”
Last week, Sean P. Duffy, the transportation secretary, also told lawmakers that such a move would be ill-advised. [Continue reading…]
Mullin’s proposal appears to reflect a thin grasp of global-travel logistics, as well as an inflated sense of the government’s ability to impose economic pain on specific cities, according to industry executives and former DHS officials I spoke with. The U.S. airports where international travelers and cargo first arrive are often not their final destination. A German business traveler flying into JFK may be en route to a meeting in Cincinnati. A Korean family landing at Los Angeles International Airport could be headed for Disney World. The proportion of economic pain imposed on sanctuary cities might be relatively small compared with the wider ripple effects on the U.S. travel industry.
“If you thought the economy was bad with Trump’s war driving prices at the pump up … just wait until international travel is halted at some of the busiest airports in the world,” California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press account posted to X after Mullin first mentioned the proposal. “Talk about a stupid idea.” [Continue reading…]