The travel industry is on edge after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reiterated his threat to withdraw U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers from airports in so-called sanctuary cities in a move that could jeopardize international flights.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Travel Assn. said that Mullin confirmed he is considering withdrawing the officers in a meeting where the trade group was pressing its concerns about other proposals the Trump administration is considering that could hamper travel. The travel association and major airlines quickly condemned the idea, and even Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said it doesn\u2019t make sense to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cU.S. Travel believes such a move would have devastating consequences for the travel industry and communities that depend on international visitation,\u201d the industry group said Friday in a statement.<\/p>\n
Details of the meeting were first reported by the Atlantic.<\/p>\n
Duffy said at a congressional hearing this week that he wasn\u2019t familiar with Mullin\u2019s remarks, and he\u2019d like to learn more about the context and maybe ask Mullin a question about what he meant. But Duffy said it would be a bad idea to start restricting travel based on political views. After all, he acknowledged, 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 <\/p>\n
\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>\n
So it\u2019s not clear how much support this idea has within the administration, though President Trump has previously threatened to withhold funding from sanctuary cities. <\/p>\n
There is no strict definition for sanctuary policies or sanctuary cities, but the terms generally refer to jurisdictions that limit cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And courts have rejected the idea of pulling funding from them in the past. <\/p>\n
In Trump\u2019s first term in office, in 2017, courts struck down his effort to cut funding to the cities.<\/p>\n