Behind a Trump aide's surreal plan to shut down travel —and sink the U.S. economy

You may have thought the dog-killing Kristi Noem was the worst that the Trump administration could get for Homeland Security Secretary.

But here is former Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin and current DHS secretary, who doubled down last week on Fox on a threat to shut down Customs and Border Patrol processing of flights at major international airports located in “sanctuary cities”—in other words, cities that direct their local law enforcement not to engage in immigration and detention efforts by working with federal agents.

It’s not, however, just about working with local law enforcement on immigration. Mullen—and Trump—want cities and states to agree with them completely on mass deportation to the point of shutting down protest. We’ve been here before, when federal agents tried to shut down protests in Minneapolis and executed two American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in the streets.

Now they’re putting a gun to the heads of entire cities and states. Mullen was angry about a protest in New Jersey at a detention facility in Newark, where dozens of demonstrators—including U.S. Senator Andy Kim—were cruelly pepper-sprayed. Basically, Mullen wants the protests stopped, and if they’re not, he’ll stop the processing of travelers on flights into cities that don’t collaborate with Trump’s fascistic actions.

Though Mullen says CBP agents “process immigration,” CBP’s job at airports is actually to make sure only U.S. citizens or foreign visitors with visas—tourist visas, work visas, or permanent residency visas—are entering the country. They’re not “processing” anyone’s “immigration” but rather processing travelers arriving on international flights.

This could all be a lot of bluster, or the Trump regime may just be stupid enough to believe that by not processing visitors on international flights to certain cities—causing chaos and sending many flights to other cities while canceling many others—it will only economically harm blue cities in the blue states they’re targeting. That would be a gross misunderstanding of the global economic ecosystem. But then again, Trump and his aides didn’t think about that when it came to tariffs, so maybe they are in fact that stupid.

Airlines would be canceling flights, and havoc would play out all across America, affecting everyone in every red state as much as anyone in any blue state. An economy that is already teetering would come crashing down into a recession.

The U.S. Travel Association told PBS News that Mullin warned the group in a meeting that he is considering withdrawing CBP officers at the airports in question. The group immediately condemned this crazy scheme, as did all of the major airlines.

Even Trump’s own transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, wasn’t on the same page:

This wouldn’t be the first time, however, that the Trump Transportation Department would be in conflict with Homeland Security. Back in February, the El Paso airport was shut down briefly after a dispute between the FAA (which is part of the Transportation Department) and DHS (and the Pentagon) when DHS and the Pentagon went ahead with testing high-energy, anti-drone laser technology at nearbly Fort Bliss against the FAA’s warnings, leading to the shutdown of the airport.

Airline trade groups warn that if Mullen moved forward, there would be a devastating economic impact, including disrupting billions of dollars in cargo shipments. We’d be back to the supply chain disruption of the pandemic—which drove inflation to 9%.

As Nick Miroff at The Atlantic reports, millions of passengers would also be stranded, and there would be a ripple effect all through the country, to airports in deeply red states.

A massive economic hit for the country—and global travel—but also for the GOP, as if the party doesn’t have enough problems heading into the midterms. On top of everything else, disrupting air travel domestically and internationally, upending cargo and deliveries in addition to vacations and business travel, would enrage voters. And then we could see the economy plummet as inflation spikes way higher than it has in recent months under Trump.

But this administration has done so much to harm itself and the GOP while thinking they’re only hurting their opponents that none of us should immediately assume it’s all a bluff.

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