Mullin threat could hit flights at LGA, JFK over sanctuary policy

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is again threatening international flights at sanctuary cities, a move that could upend air travel.

The plan would block global flights at certain airports, paralyzing travel for some of the biggest cities in the country — especially New York City.

Here's why Mullin wants to move forward on the plan, and what to know about where LGA and JFK stand.

Mullin on stopping international flights

The DHS secretary told Fox News this week that the agency is "currently drawing up plans to say: 'Listen, in these sanctuary cities where the local radical left Democrats aren't allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws, then we shouldn't be processing international flights into their cities.'"

This isn't the first time Mullin has mulled the idea of stopping international flights to certain cities.

Last month, he said that he was considering pulling Customs and Border Patrol officers out of sanctuary city airports.

"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."

International flights threatened at JFK, LGA

New York City has been labeled a sanctuary city by the administration, meaning that the biggest city in the country could face deafening repercussions. Sanctuary cities are places that are considered to limit what information is given to federal immigration officers.

The Department of Justice's sanctuary city list also includes:

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

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

Last month, 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.