A New Definition of Insanity
A commonly used maxim goes like this: “A classic definition of insanity is when one does the same thing again and again and expects different outcomes.” It’s a time-tested rule for evaluating human folly.
But as we cruise into the summer of 2026, I would like to propose a second, modern definition of insanity: Letting Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin follow through on his threat to withdraw U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers from all international airports located in so-called “sanctuary cities”—right as seven million overseas visitors prepare to land in the United States for the FIFA World Cup.
Now, before his life in politics, Secretary Mullin built a highly successful empire as the owner of Mullin Plumbing. He is a man who knows his way around a pipe. He understands how pressure builds, how blockages happen, and presumably, how to fix a massive backup.
Which makes his latest policy proposal all the more baffling. Because Markwayne Mullin, Master Plumber, is currently drawing up plans to intentionally clog the main arteries of global aviation.
The Newark Flashpoint
The immediate flashpoint for this bureaucratic tantrum was a weekend protest outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey—an incident so chaotic it resulted in U.S. Senator Andy Kim being pepper-sprayed during an interaction with immigration agents.
Secretary Mullin was apparently so aggrieved by protesters blocking the facility’s employees that he took to Fox News to announce he is “drawing up plans” for a retaliatory strike against the nation’s infrastructure. His logic? If a city’s “radical-left Democrats” won’t let federal agents enforce laws on the streets, the feds shouldn’t process international flights at their airports. “They don’t want us to enforce immigration, but they want us to process immigration at their facilities,” Mullin complained. “Nothing about that makes sense to me.”
In the plumbing business, if you don’t like how a homeowner treats you, you walk away from the job. You don’t cap the neighborhood water main and flood the entire county. But that is exactly what Mullin is threatening to do to the travel industry.
The “Actively Insane” Logistics
As critics and aviation experts have swiftly pointed out, Mullin’s proposal is—to borrow a phrase from Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council—”actively insane.” If you pull CBP officers from an airport, international flights cannot magically divert to a neighbor’s runway; airlines simply have to cancel them en masse. Juliette Kayyem, a former Obama-era DHS official, notes that the plan would cause a logistical nightmare for voters of all political stripes while having precisely “no impact on immigration policy.” It is the policy equivalent of trying to clear a clogged sink by blowing up the house.
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The World Cup Domino Effect
The timing of this threat is particularly breathtaking. The United States is co-hosting the biggest sporting event on earth this summer. Seven million international visitors are currently packing their bags, holding tickets, and boarding planes under the naive assumption that when they fly into major gateways like Newark or Los Angeles, the system will flow smoothly.
Instead, the travel industry is on the verge of collective cardiac arrest. The U.S. Travel Association and the Airlines for America trade group have issued stark warnings about the “devastating consequences” this would have on local economies, international cargo, and tourism.
The So-Called “Sanctuary City” Mullin’s Plan Could Leave Without CBP Coverage
In the plumbing business, if you don’t like how a homeowner treats you, you walk away from the job. You don’t cap the neighborhood water main and flood the entire county. But that is exactly what Mullin is threatening to do to the travel industry.
For overseas readers unfamiliar with the bizarre geography of American culture wars, a “sanctuary city” is simply a local jurisdiction that limits how much its local police forces cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The Justice Department has a highly publicized, specific list of these jurisdictions.
And if you cross-reference that list with the official U.S. host cities for the World Cup, the intersection of political theater and absolute logistical catastrophe becomes crystal clear. Mullin isn’t just threatening a few isolated border towns—he is targeting the primary engines of American tourism and the literal stages of the tournament.
The Trump Administration’s “sanctuary cities” include almost all of the sites of this year’s World Cup matches, including New York (JFK & Newark), Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle and San Francisco
