Australians could be blocked from flying directly to Los Angeles and San Francisco under Trump's proposed 'sanctuary city' rule

By MATT JONES, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 06:05, 28 May 2026 | Updated: 06:16, 28 May 2026 A Trump plan to stop processing international flights at airports in 'sanctuary cities' could block Australians from flying directly to some of America's biggest cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin proposed the crackdown on the cities, which are all run by Democrats and have refused to work with the White House in its efforts to combat irregular immigration. Sanctuary cities ban local law enforcement from helping federal immigration authorities to identify, detain or deport undocumented immigrants. 'Why are we processing international flights into the airport there?' Mullin told Fox News. 'We're currently drawing up plans to say, listen, these sanctuary cities where the local radical-left Democrats aren't allowing us to do our jobs and enforce federal laws, then we shouldn't be processing international flights into their cities either. 'Because they don't want us to enforce immigration, but they want us to process immigration at their facilities.' If the Trump administration's plan goes ahead, Australians won't be able to fly directly to the sanctuary cities of Los Angeles or San Francisco. They are the two most popular US destinations for Australians, with Dallas the only other direct route to the mainland. Dallas is not a sanctuary city and would not be affected if the changes go ahead – but it's further from California and only has direct flights from Sydney. The Donald Trump administration plans to prevent 'sanctuary cities' from operating international airports Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has proposed stopping major airports from accepting international flights, which would impact flights from Australia Should politics ever dictate which cities Australians can visit in America? What's your view?Australians wanting to visit Los Angeles would have to fly 16 hours from Sydney to Dallas, then take another flight back to California, which takes three hours. Another option is a stopover in Hawaii before heading on to Los Angeles. American economist Patrick Chovanec called the proposal 'a stupid idea'. 'Cutting off New York, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, and other major ports of entry/departure from international flights would be the biggest self-inflicted wound to our economy since closing the Strait of Hormuz,' he said. 'The costs would be ridiculous. It's really such an impressively stupid idea, I'm kind of in awe.' Direct routes to New York and Boston from Auckland would also be blocked. Other sanctuary cities include Seattle, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans and Philadelphia. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.