Mullin faces backlash over ‘naive or dumb’ plan to pull CBP from blue-city airports

National security experts and the airline industry are cautioning against Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s threat to pull U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from international hubs, arguing the “shockingly naive or dumb” plan would cause airline chaos for Americans of all stripes.

Mullin floated the plan last week during an appearance on Fox News following protests outside a New Jersey detention facility in which Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) was among those affected by pepper spray fired into the crowd.

Mullin said as a response to the chaos he was “drawing up plans” to yank CBP officers stationed at airports in so-called sanctuary cities. 

The department has yet to take action, but the idea has generated significant backlash from those who argue the move would stall travel for Americans of all political ideologies.

Juliette Kayyem, who served as assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at DHS under the Obama administration, said if Mullin follows through “it will be a catastrophe.”

“Our major airports servicing international flights in the United States are at max capacity. I mean, that’s what they do. They lease gates to airlines based on how many gates they have available. Those airlines are not authorized to arrive at other airports because they don’t have gates,” she said, calling the arrangement “obvious” to anyone with knowledge of the industry.

“Guess who’s on those international flights? Americans, and often they’re red Americans. This idea that this is only going to hurt blue people in blue cities is shockingly naive … it’s either shockingly naive or dumb. And my only hope is that the airline industries are making this case a little bit more diplomatically than I’ve been.”

Mullin last week complained about protests on city streets outside the facility.

“They’re barricading........

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