Sen. Andy Kim on Sunday warned that proposed punishments on airports over immigration protests could cause widespread economic damage.
In an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union,” the New Jersey Democrat said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s recent threats to pull customs staffing at airports in sanctuary cities “would be akin to just shooting ourselves in the foot."
“It would do so much economic damage,” Kim said, referencing the city of Newark in his own state. “If you try to shut down or make it hard for people to be able to fly into Newark, that's going to have repercussions all across our country. So, you know, it makes no sense."
Immigration enforcement has been a priority of the second Trump administration, though the tactics of immigration officers have been met with wide-ranging criticism in the wake of two fatal officer-involved shootings in Minneapolis earlier this year, among other things.
Mullin, who was confirmed as secretary in March, told Fox News last week that Democratic-led cities and states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement should face repercussions.
“We’re definitely drawing up plans to say, listen, in these sanctuary cities where the local radical left Democrats aren’t allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws, then we shouldn’t be processing international flights into their, into their cities either, because they don’t want us to enforce immigration,” Mullin said.
But the proposition seems to have been met with lukewarm support, raising fears that removing customs staff could spur chaos for travelers ahead of major events like the World Cup — New Jersey is hosting some of the matches, including the final — and potentially result in a wave of flight cancellations. It could also exacerbate the already intense situation in New Jersey.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy appeared to distance himself from the idea as well.
“We have people from around the world and around the country that need to be able to fly into all different kinds of places,” Duffy said during a congressional hearing earlier this month. “We shouldn’t shut down air travel in a state that doesn’t agree with our politics.”
Mullin’s threats came shortly after Kim was pepper-sprayed outside Newark’s immigration detention center, Delaney Hall, last Monday. Kim was among a crowd of protesters outside the facility just days after reports of detainees launching a hunger strike in protest of conditions. But as federal agents clashed with the protesters — who attempted to block vehicles from exiting the facility — agents fired pepper balls into the crowd.
Kim on Sunday said, “There is undoubtedly things going wrong inside Delaney Hall” and that he is “hugely concerned” about the conditions at the facility.
“I've gotten so little sleep this past week. I mean, this has been, you know, one of the most difficult weeks of my entire life,” he said, though he added: “It's not about me.” He went on to detail interacting with a detainee with Stage 3 lung cancer who was not receiving proper medical care as he called for improving the conditions of the facility.
The administration, however, has denied any issues at the facility — including the hunger strike or that any protesters were struck with pepper balls.
“Another day, another hoax about ICE detention facilities. Sanctuary politicians are spreading categorically false smears about ICE’s Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey. These types of smears are inciting violent riots outside the ICE facility in New Jersey,” acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement last week. “These sanctuary politicians need to stop with the political theater. No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been better treated than illegal aliens.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) visited the detention center this weekend, along with New Jersey Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver and Josh Gottheimer. Like Kim, Jeffries described “unsanitary living conditions, lack of adequate medical care and unhealthy food.”
“The conditions of confinement we witnessed firsthand and discussed with approximately two dozen detainees at the Delaney Hall detention center shock the conscience,” Jeffries said in a statement Sunday. “Immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, just and humane. The Trump administration is doing the exact opposite.”
Kim said he has discussed his visit to Delaney Hall with Mullin, and said he plans to follow up with the secretary.
“I am so worried about my state,” Kim said. “I have not seen my state with this level of precariousness during my entire time in elected office. So I'm worried about what comes next.”
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