{"id":778,"date":"2026-05-31T14:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=778"},"modified":"2026-05-31T14:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T14:10:24","slug":"behind-a-trump-aides-surreal-plan-to-shut-down-travel-and-sink-the-u-s-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=778","title":{"rendered":"Behind a Trump aide’s surreal plan to shut down travel \u2014and sink the U.S. economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

You may have thought the dog-killing Kristi Noem was the worst that the Trump administration could get for Homeland Security Secretary.<\/p>\n

Read more Conservative: GOP in crisis mode as Trump\u2019s erratic antics hurls party into freefall<\/a><\/p>\n

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 \u201csanctuary cities\u201d\u2014in other words, cities that direct their local law enforcement not to engage in immigration and detention efforts by working with federal agents. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not, however, just about working with local law enforcement on immigration. Mullen\u2014and Trump\u2014want cities and states to agree with them completely on mass deportation to the point of shutting down protest. We\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

Now they\u2019re 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\u2014including U.S. Senator Andy Kim\u2014were cruelly pepper-sprayed. Basically, Mullen wants the protests stopped, and if they\u2019re not, he\u2019ll stop the processing of travelers on flights into cities that don\u2019t collaborate with Trump\u2019s fascistic actions.<\/p>\n

Though Mullen says CBP agents \u201cprocess immigration,\u201d CBP\u2019s job at airports is actually to make sure only U.S. citizens or foreign visitors with visas\u2014tourist visas, work visas, or permanent residency visas\u2014are entering the country. They\u2019re not \u201cprocessing\u201d anyone\u2019s \u201cimmigration\u201d but rather processing travelers arriving on international flights.<\/p>\n

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\u2014causing chaos and sending many flights to other cities while canceling many others\u2014it will only economically harm blue cities in the blue states they\u2019re targeting. That would be a gross misunderstanding of the global economic ecosystem. But then again, Trump and his aides didn\u2019t think about that when it came to tariffs, so maybe they are in fact that stupid.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Pressure\u2019 shows why Eisenhower trusted scientists over blowhards \u2014and why we should too<\/a><\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Even Trump\u2019s own transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, wasn\u2019t on the same page:<\/p>\n

Duffy told a Congressional hearing earlier this week that\u2026it would be a bad idea to start restricting travel based on political views. After all, at some point Democrats will be in charge and \u201cyou will all switch spots at one point \u2014 hopefully not too soon Mr. Chairman,\u201d Duffy said.
\u201cWe have people from around the world and around the country that need to be able to fly into all different kinds of places. We shouldn\u2019t shut down air travel in a state that doesn\u2019t agree with our politics,\u201d Duffy said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This wouldn\u2019t 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\u2019s warnings, leading to the shutdown of the airport. <\/p>\n

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\u2019d be back to the supply chain disruption of the pandemic\u2014which drove inflation to 9%. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Mullin\u2019s proposal appears to reflect a thin grasp of global-travel logistics, as well as an inflated sense of the government\u2019s ability to impose economic pain on specific cities, according to industry executives and former DHS officials I spoke with.
The U.S. airports where international travelers and cargo first arrive are often not their final destination. A German business traveler flying into JFK may be en route to a meeting in Cincinnati.
A Korean family landing at Los Angeles International Airport could be headed for Disney World. The proportion of economic pain imposed on sanctuary cities might be relatively small compared with the wider ripple effects on the U.S. travel industry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A massive economic hit for the country\u2014and global travel\u2014but also for the GOP, as if the party doesn\u2019t 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. <\/p>\n

But this administration has done so much to harm itself and the GOP while thinking they\u2019re only hurting their opponents that none of us should immediately assume it\u2019s all a bluff. <\/p>\n

Read more DC insider: America faces more Trumps \u2014 or worse<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBehind a Trump aide's surreal plan to shut down travel \u2014and sink the U.S. economy - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=778\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind a Trump aide's surreal plan to shut down travel \u2014and sink the U.S. economy - 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