Latest news from the United States indicates that the Trump administration is currently formulating plans to pull customs and border patrol officers and agents from ten airports across the country, which currently handle international flights. The plan under consideration can have a significant impact on passengers flying into the US, if it were to come to fruition, because removing customs agents from these major gateways would mean the airport can no longer accept international arrivals.

The airports being considered are major gateways, which are reportedly located within what are being called “sanctuary cities”, within Democrat-run states, that have resisted the current administration’s immigration policies.

Major US Gateways Could Lose International Access

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According to multiple international publications, such as Japan Today and The Economic Times, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullins, has stated that the Trump Administration is formulating a plan that could see major international airports across the country cease processing international arrivals. At the same time, it was added that a final decision regarding the matter has not been made yet.

But why is this under consideration? According to Mullins, the airports under consideration are within what is being called Sanctuary Cities, which are located within Democrat-run states in the US, where the city has reportedly resisted cooperating with the current administration’s “immigration crackdown”. Therefore, the administration’s plan under consideration could see customs and border patrol officers being removed from these airports, which would subsequently lead to airports not being able to accept any international arrivals.

The airports that are being evaluated under this plan include some of the busiest international gateway and hub airports across the country. Stopping international arrivals at these airports can cause global disruptions, especially in the upcoming peak summer travel season, and even the FIFA World Cup, which is due to begin in a few weeks’ time. Japan Today reports the following quote from Markwayne Mullins,

“We shouldn’t be processing international flights into their cities,”

“local radical left Democrats aren’t allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws.”

So Which Airports Could Be Affected?

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At the moment, there are ten airports that could lose their international connectivity if this plan is to come to fruition, and these are also bases for the major carriers within the country, such as United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and several other operators. Because of the global connectivity served by these airports, along with the extensive connectivity the US-based airlines offer, the removal of customs agents at these gateways can have significant disruptions within the US domestic market, but also global connectivity.

The following is a list of these ten airports:

As seen above, these airports are not only major hubs for the largest airlines in the country, but in many cases, they are also the primary airports for entire regions within the country. Furthermore, data compiled by OAG on the top 10 busiest US airports by passenger numbers in 2025 includes four airports from the table above. Chicago O’Hare, Denver, Los Angeles, and JFK airports cumulatively handled over 183 million passengers (international and domestic) in 2025.

Changing perspective, when looking at these airports through the lens of the airlines serving these airports as hubs, it would appear that United could be impacted the most if international services were to be suspended. This is because the airline is a significant operator at five of these airports, which are Newark, Denver, Chicago O’Hare (highly competitive with American Airlines), San Francisco, and Los Angeles airports.

Upcoming Peak Summer Travel Season

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The summer travel season is always extremely busy across US airports, especially when it coincides with summer holidays, but also the week leading up to the Fourth of July holiday is usually recorded as one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

2025 figures indicate that the TSA was prepared to handle over 18.5 million passengers at airports across the country during that week alone. This year, however, passenger numbers are expected to be much higher, as the US, along with Canada and Mexico, plays host to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is scheduled to run from June 11 to July 19. While this can certainly be a point of concern for people who have travel plans to and from the US for the coming weeks, only time will tell if the plan being considered will come to fruition.

If it were to happen, passengers thinking of flying into the US would find themselves with itineraries limited to international airports that have customs and border patrol agents present. Alternatively, they would be forced to travel through the limited number of airports that are a part of the US Preclearance program, which would allow passengers flying in from these airports to arrive in the US as domestic passengers.