A controversial plan that would effectively ban most international flights at the U.S.’s largest gateway airports seems to be gathering momentum in Washington amid fears it would cause utter chaos as more than five million soccer fans get ready to visit the U.S., Canada, and Mexico for the World Cup. The Homeland Security Secretary has given several interviews in the last few days saying he’s thinking of removing Customs and Border Protection officers from airports in so-called sanctuary cities where local authorities do not assist federal immigration investigations. Among those cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, all major international hubs and key entry points for World Cup tourists.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said no decision has been made but his department will be ready if it is. “We are currently—which we’re not initiating yet—but we’re currently drawing up plans,” Mullin told Fox News. No government officials have given any rationale for such a move other than to punish Democratic cities and states for their opposition to the crackdown on illegal immigrants by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement department. “We shouldn’t be processing international flights into their cities [where] local radical left Democrats aren’t allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws,” he said.
Nervous tourism industry officials have mostly declined to comment on the proposal, noting that no action has been taken yet. The U.S. Travel Association, which heard about the plan in a meeting with Mullin last week, said the consequences would be serious. “U.S. Travel believes such a move would have devastating consequences for the travel industry and communities that depend on international visitation,” the group said. International flights to non-sanctuary cities would continue to be processed and international travelers could still get flights to sanctuary cities from foreign airports that have U.S. Customs pre-screening.
In a word– stupid.
Every time I think they can’t do or say something even more stupid, they do. SMH
kakistocracy [kak-uh–stok-ruh-see]
noun
The cope runs hard on this site.
Cope harder, readers.
Hold on. It’s not the first of April. Is Russ having a little fun with us? This couldn’t happen in a developed economy……
A seriously boneheaded idea!
Clearing customs in, say, Leesburg, Florida should be interesting.
They would still be able to use Miami, Ft Lauderdale, and Atlanta; but what would the traffic look like? It’s already bad at those airports, and could easily be disrupted at any of them due to weather! What a fiasco that would be.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin looks at an economy suffering from the Iran war and tells Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, “hold my beer.”
These people are evil. Insanity. Hurts all of us.
OH … it’s OK to not cooperate with ICE and CBP (and let illegals invade our Country) but if the Government then decides that they’ll pull customs from those non-cooperating cities, THAT is not OK and is “evil.” Somewhere in there there’s logic but I sure don’t see it.
For every action there’s an equal and opposite REaction. I hope they DO IT !!
Destroying our already wobbling economy is just cutting off your nose to spite your face. Stupid = evil. And these guys are stupid.
What’s “wobbling” about our economy? The fact that the so-called main stream media says so?
You may want to come to USA and look around. Grocery and gas prices are skyrocketing. Unemployment is growing. Farm bankruptcies are breaking all records. Manufacturing is near all-time low. Dollar is at a 5-year low against the Euro (as low as during COVID). Every single indicator shows that the economy is extremely shaky.
Don’t read the ‘main stream media’. Look at actual evidence and you’ll see. It’s really, really bad, by any and every measure.
I’ve lived in the USA all my life and I just don’t see what you do. As a single example of the economy, my wife just paid $0.99 for a dozen eggs at the local market vs. $8.50 during the previous administration. Yes, the price of gasoline has gone up and it will go down after this mess in the Middle East goes away.
I do look around, and with my eyes open and untainted by illogical hatred of the current President, and I just don’t “see” what you do. Maybe because I see a lot of good coming out of the current administration.
I will not reply again as it’s akin to banging my head against a brick wall.
People usually see what they want to see.
I’m not an American (although I currently live there), so I have no horse in the political race. In my grocery store, eggs are at their highest price right now, higher than they were ever before. That’s all anecdotal evidence, and as such, it’s useless. I look at data and evidence.
Law enforcement resources aren’t infinite. NYPD (police in New York) have a choice: send a cop to hunt down some brown guy delivering food for Doordash, earning meagre tips and paying his taxes, or chase a thief, rapist, or murderer. They cannot do both at the same time. Every single cop that’s removed from the job of chasing actual, real criminals, in order to hunt down people who work full-time jobs and pay their taxes, is one more rapist, murderer, thief going free. There is a reason why New York City has the lowest crime rate of all medium and large cities in USA: cops are chasing actual criminals who commit actual crime.
There’s the logic, hopefully, you’ll see it now.
the quote is “aren’t allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws,”
ICE and CPB are quite able to move and operate in any city. Some cities choose to not do the job for ICE and CBP. It is not an aspect of ‘cooperating’. By not stopping them they are, by definition, cooperating. What are actually saying is we will not use state/city capabilities to assist in doing your job as that costs our citizens money we need elsewhere.
And “invade”? This is just so old it is amazing some folks pull it out. You do understand that many of the people being pulled off the streets have legitimate reasons for being here and documentation for it.
What weapons did they use in this invasion? Ah, they attack our job market and take all the worthless horrible jobs most desperate Americans do not want to do.
Horror!
Nothing like seeing vegetables rotting in a field because those “invading aliens” aren’t picking them any more and good luck finding an American to do the work.
Amazing.
So you’ll also support a Democrat in the White House finding ways to punish red states and cities, right??
“Feds Mull Pulling Customs From New York, LA, Chicago, and Other Airports in ‘Sanctuary Cities’” … because so many illegal immigrants can afford the airline tickets to attempt to sneak their family into our country.
The move is pure retaliation. It has nothing to do with foreigners who are arriving. It is just a punishment for progressive cities, out of hate and spite. The goal is to cripple their local economy by denying ANY travellers to enter the country via their airports (and this includes a large number of extraordinarily wealthy businessmen and conservatives).
It’s a textbook definition of ‘cutting nose to spite face’.
While I don’t like many things Trump is doing, it’s such a hoot that the same people who now suddenly care about working folk lectured us during the Obama Regime that record gas prices were for our own good to reduce fossil fuel dependence and combat Anthropogenic Climate Change (TM).
Left-wing windbaggery on AvBrief is no better than Sean Hannity on the right. We survived four years of a dementia patient, and we’ll survive a narcissist. We working folk will get to continue working harder for less, just as we have done since JFK got killed.
I was in my 40s during the Obama presidency, living in NYC, and I have no recollection of anyone saying that. I’ve been googling that for some time now, but can’t find a single quote or article saying that. There WERE people who were saying that they were hoping that higher gas prices would stimulate industries to seek alternative (renewable) energy sources. That is an entirely different thing, and makes complete sense. The administration, however, was, in any case, always distancing themselves from those statements, stating that high gas prices help nobody.
Windbaggery is certainly not fun to read, but what you’re implying left-wingers were saying doesn’t have any evidence for it.
Here you go, Toots: “Steven Chu made the most notable remarks regarding European-level gas prices just before the Obama Administration took office in late 2008. During a Wall Street Journal interview, Chu stated that the U.S. had to ‘figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe’. He and other advocates argued that making gas artificially higher through taxes or regulations was necessary to encourage conservation, reduce oil dependency, and push consumers toward greener alternatives.”
And that’s literally what I had said.
“For our own good” is condescending, but was never uttered by anyone.
Sure, Mullin, go ahead with your veiled threat. Let me know how it works out.
I find this argument a real joke. For those of us old enough to remember when the national 55 mph speed limit was enacted by Pres. Nixon, how do you think the feds were able to enforce this. The feds threatened to withhold highway funds if states didn’t go along. Where were the lawsuits and complaints then? How about the return to age 21 drinking laws. Same thing since the federal government had no and still has no authority to enforce the age 21 drinking, how do you think the feds enforce this? By again withholding federal funding to any state who did not pass an age 21 restriction. Where are the lawsuits and complaints there? I think the Trump administration should follow through with stopping customs services in “sanctuary” cities and states. What a way to get attention. The 2 other past issues I have brought up certainly sets a precedent for this action. Just think if immigration officials are allowed to do their jobs, we would have no need for TSA, and all of TSA’s nonsensical rules that do nothing for security and hassle aviation professionals. Just ask the author of an earlier article about his experience with a TSA audit because he is an independent CFI.
You don’t remember complaints about the 55 mph speed limit?? I sure do. I also remember that the actions you listed were not examples of a President using the power of the government to punish states and cities that didn’t vote for them. It’s curious to see a conservative defending the federal government applying its power against states and cities. Most conservatives tend to be against that sort of thing.
I do remember the complaints. Several western states tried to drop the 55 mph limit only to change their minds when the Feds said they would withhold funds. As far as your second comment, it has been already documented that the Biden administration slow walked or withheld FEMA funds for certain hurricane damage areas who had MAGA signs in their driveways.
The difference between you and me is, I don’t support the of use of government power for political retribution.