The ink on Markwayne Mullin’s DHS nameplate was barely dry when he walked onto Fox News and casually dropped the kind of idea that makes sanctuary city mayors choke on their lattes.
Pull the customs agents out of their international airports.
Just like that. No executive order drama, no drawn-out legal battle. Just a quiet, devastating reallocation of federal resources that would turn JFK, LAX, and SFO into glorified domestic terminals overnight.
The Logic Is Brutally Simple
Mullin laid it out for Bret Baier on Monday with the calm delivery of a man who’s already done the math.
“Some of these cities have international airports. If they’re a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city? If they’re 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’re not going to enforce immigration policy — maybe we need to have a really hard look at that.”
Read that again. He’s not threatening to build a wall around Manhattan. He’s saying: why should federal agents staff your airport when you won’t lift a finger to enforce the law once someone walks outside?
It’s the bureaucratic equivalent of canceling someone’s gym membership because they refuse to work out. You don’t want to participate? Fine. But you don’t get to keep the perks.
Sanctuary Cities Have Been Running a Scam
Here’s the con that’s been going on for years. Cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans declare themselves “sanctuaries” — a fancy word for telling federal immigration agents to pound sand. They refuse to cooperate with ICE. They release criminal aliens back onto the streets. They practically roll out a welcome mat for anyone who crosses the border illegally.
But they still want Uncle Sam to staff their customs desks, process their international tourists, and keep those sweet, sweet tourism dollars flowing in.
That’s like telling your landlord you’re not paying rent anymore, but you’d still like him to fix the dishwasher.
And Here’s Where It Gets Beautiful
Mullin isn’t going rogue. He made that crystal clear.
“I am not going outside the policies that Congress passed for me. And we’re not trying to push those, but we’re saying that you’ve got to partner with us.”
He also pointed out the delicious irony of Democrats trying to defund Customs and Border Protection while simultaneously expecting those same agents to keep processing international arrivals at their airports.
“Right now, remember, the 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’s willing to work with us, and partner with us?”
You want to defund the very people who make your airports function? Careful what you wish for, because this new DHS chief just might grant it.
The Price Tag Nobody Wants to Talk About
American taxpayers shelled out more than $150 billion on illegal immigrants in 2023 alone, according to the Department of Government Efficiency. That’s not a typo. That’s billion with a B — enough to make your eyes water and your wallet weep.
And sanctuary cities are ground zero for that hemorrhage. They’re the ones rolling out benefits, housing, legal aid, and every other magnet that draws people to skip the legal line and waltz right in.
Trump didn’t pick Mullin by accident. He picked a guy willing to play hardball with the cities that have turned defiance of federal law into a lifestyle brand. This isn’t a bulldozer move — it’s a chess move. Quiet, legal, and absolutely devastating to the tourism economies that keep these blue cities afloat.
Ronald Reagan said it best: “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.” Sanctuary cities have been testing that principle for years, betting that Washington would never actually call their bluff.
Mullin just picked up the phone.