The Trump administration just opened a new front in its fight with sanctuary cities, and the airlines are in the crossfire. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the government may stop processing international flights into airports in cities that won't help enforce federal immigration law, and the timing is no accident with the FIFA World Cup just weeks away.
Mullin floated the idea on Fox News' "Hannity" Tuesday night, with a simple point: if "radical left Democrats" won't let the federal government enforce immigration law, federal officers shouldn't be processing international arrivals into their cities either.
He said the administration is "drawing up plans" but hasn't put anything into motion yet. That's leverage talk, not policy, and it lines up with a Justice Department list from last August naming states and cities allegedly blocking U.S. immigration policies.
That list includes the kind of airports most international travelers actually use: New York, Newark, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Philadelphia.
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Airlines for America, the trade group representing American Airlines (AAL), United (UAL), and Delta (DAL), said pulling Customs and Border Protection officers out of major airports would be "devastating" for the airline and tourism industries, with cargo on the line too since a lot of what shows up on your doorstep flew here in the belly of a passenger plane.
The U.S. Travel Association said Mullin confirmed in a private meeting that the administration is actually considering it, and its members include Hilton (HLT) and Marriott (MAR), so they care about international visitors filling rooms.
A major international gateway processes tens of thousands of foreign arrivals every day. Without CBP officers, those flights have nowhere to land.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off next month, hosted across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, and millions of fans are expected to fly in. Most will land at the very airports on the DOJ's sanctuary list.
For investors, that's the whole story, since NYC hotels already locked in a 15% cost hike ahead of the tournament. If the administration follows through, airlines and hotels take the immediate hit, not the cities the policy is supposed to punish.
Watch whether "drawing up plans" turns into actual policy in the next few weeks, which sanctuary cities (if any) fold on their stance, and how airline stocks like Delta move the next time the White House mentions the topic.
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