Is NYC a sanctuary city? What Mullin could do to airport Customs here

U.S. airports, which have already faced intense scrutiny in recent months due to the partial government shutdown that caused extraordinarily long wait times, may undergo even more upheaval.

New Homeland Security head Markwayne Mullin told Fox News this week that he is considering pulling Customs and Border Patrol officers out of sanctuary city airports, a move that would paralyze some of the biggest traveling hubs in the country.

"Some of these cities have international airports," Mullin said during the interview.

"If they are a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?"

The DHS secretary doubled down on the threat, saying: "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."

So, what is a sanctuary city, and how could this affect NYC?

What is a sanctuary city?

The breadth of cities that could be affected by Mullin's policy idea spreads far.

A sanctuary city is an area that limits what information is given to federal immigration officers, according to Global Refuge.

Last year, the Department of Justice published a list of cities it identifies as sanctuary jurisdictions.

That list includes:

• Albuquerque, New Mexico
• Berkeley
• Boston
• Chicago
• Denver
• East Lansing, Michigan
• Hoboken, New Jersey
• Jersey City, New Jersey
• Los Angeles
• New Orleans
• New York City
• Newark, New Jersey
• Paterson, New Jersey
• Philadelphia
• Portland, Oregon
• Rochester, New York
• Seattle
• San Francisco

Multiple cities in the NYC metropolitan region are listed, including New York City, Newark, NJ, Hoboken, NJ, and others.

What airports are affected in NYC?

The government-defined list of sanctuary cities would mean LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports, among others in the area, could lose CBP officers.

"I'm going to have to be forced to make hard decisions," Mullin said.

"I am not going outside the policies that Congress passed for me, and we're not trying to push those, but we're saying you've got to partner with us."

What would it mean if customs officers were taken out of sanctuary city airports?

Mullin said that officials may stop processing international fliers through border patrol at some of the largest airports in the United States if sanctuary cities did not comply.

It isn't immediately clear how Mullin would go about implementing the rule, or if it was a plan DHS would follow through with.

"I believe sanctuary cities, it’s not lawful," he told Fox News.

"I don't think they're able to do that. And so, we're going to take a hard look at this."

California Gov. Gavin Newsom went to X to slam the idea, which he called stupid.

"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," his press office account posted.

"Talk about a stupid idea (no wonder it’s being considered by the Trump Admin)."