WASHINGTON, DC - Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is reportedly weighing the possibility of pulling Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers from airports situated within jurisdictions whose elected officials refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, a move that would upend international travel at the impacted airports.
As previously reported in Law Enforcement Today, tensions between the Trump administration and purported sanctuary cities and jurisdictions regarding collaborative efforts on federal immigration enforcement have been on a steady incline. Legal efforts brought forth by the administration to compel collaboration between state/local law enforcement and federal authorities have not fared well, while pressure campaigns coming from the general public up to the bully pulpit have rendered meager results.
Given the lackluster results prior efforts have delivered, Secretary Mullin is suggesting a tactic that somewhat mirrors what Democrat officials have been doing all along to harm the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda: withdrawing access to law enforcement resources.
More specifically, Secretary Mullin is shopping around the idea of pulling CBP officers from airports situated within sanctuary jurisdictions, thereby effectively making international travel to and from these hubs impossible.
The novel punitive suggestion has garnered some support from Republicans, with Sen. Lindsey Graham saying of the potential effort, “I think there should be consequences to cities and states that undercut federal law. I think they should pay a price for what they do. I agree with what he’s doing.”
It appears the mere threat of pulling CBP officers from airports has a propensity to render desired results in favor of the current administration. This past May, Secretary Mullin threatened to pull CBP officers from Newark’s airport in response to escalating violence at the protests staged outside Delaney Hall in New Jersey, leading to Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill activating state police to help protect the immigration detention facility.
Sen. Deb Fischer is also open to the idea of piloting this kind of “response” to jurisdictions who want to effectively flout federal immigration law, saying, “I think it’s a choice that those cities make and they’d have to weigh the consequences of it. If they want to be a sanctuary city, they’ve made that choice and they’re getting a response now from Homeland Security.”
From the outside looking in, Secretary Mullin’s proposal seems both ironically fitting and appropriate; as the idiom goes, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Democrat leaders who fomented these sanctuary policies and jurisdictions have mockingly told the current administration they’re free to enforce federal immigration law, they just can’t have access to their state’s law enforcement or accompanying resources. In turn, Secretary Mullin isn’t denying these cities and states of hosting airports, he’s simply floating the idea they can’t have access to federal immigration officers.
While the Trump administration hasn’t officially afforded a greenlight for Secretary Mullin’s proposal, the idea would be the embodiment of poetic justice. Even though Democrats have voiced vehement opposition to Secretary Mullin’s punitive measure to combat sanctuary jurisdictions, claiming the impacts on international travel would be chaotic, Democrat-led policies surrounding sanctuary jurisdictions have already brought forth their own brand of chaos on the American people.
Democrats leading these sanctuary jurisdictions can’t have it both ways in terms of openly defying federal immigration enforcement efforts while demanding the federal government extend their own law enforcement resources for their own benefit. Secretary Mullin’s proposal can be better described as holding these jurisdictions to their own standards rather than a vehicle for punishment, even if these jurisdictions would feel the proverbial squeeze of discipline.
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