Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump has a longstanding tendency to threaten his opponents by saying he is going to do illegal things that he has no authority to do. His most recent threat is to block international travelers at airports in sanctuary (i.e., blue) cities. There are very detailed laws and rules about how international travelers are treated at airports. The president has no authority to pick an airport and say: "No more international flights here." More than 50 million international travelers arrived at the three biggest New York airports alone last year. Many of these people were Americans returning from overseas trips. The president has absolutely no authority to stop Americans with a valid passport from re-entering the country.
The new secretary of DHS, Markwayne Mullin, has already learned what the most important part of his job is: parroting Trump. Mullin mused about closing customs offices at airports in cities he wants to pressure. That would end all international arrivals there, also for Americans. Mullin said: "It's an option. If cities are going to sit there and say that they're not going to enforce immigration policies, then I'll repeat myself and say it doesn't make any sense for us to process international travelers through that city."
Now hold your horses, Mr. Mullin. It is now your job to enforce immigration policies. It is not the job of local officials or local police.
We suspect this is all bark and no bite, as usual. Can you imagine what would happen if a bunch of Silicon Valley executives who were overseas were told that SFO and LAX are closed for international arrivals, so go somewhere else? They might not like that so much and some of these guys have a bit of power of one kind or another. Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post. Elon Musk owns eX-Twitter. David Ellison runs CBS and soon CNN. These guys might not be so happy. Of course, it is possible that Trump will close customs for commercial flights but keep a rump office open for private aviation. (V)