The Hill reports that the Homeland Security Secretary is:
“drawing up plans” to end the processing of international flights in left-leaning cities, pointing to protests outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey as rationale.
To the extent that the choice of airports in major cities is random with respect to economic conditions (although not to whether the closest city is a vaguely defined “sanctuary city”), this would provide an ideal dataset for examining how cessation of processing would impact city economic conditions. One might think that implementing this policy would have a small effect, adn indeed it might. However, if I think of the multiplier effect of diminished airport activity propagating through reduced employment, as well as reduced hotel and accommodation revenues, I think it would very well be possible to see a significant impact.
Such a natural experiment could be assessed using typical differences-in-differences estimation (see Chapter 13 of Stock and Watson).
Here are some assessments of the likely impact:
Critics said ending the processing of international flights at various airports would cause chaos at airports across the country, forcing airlines to cancel flights and disrupt travel for left- and right-leaning cities that depend on CBP processing at major hubs.
Reuters indicates the cities in question (DoJ designated “sanctuary cities”):
Among these were Boston, Denver, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, Seattle and San Francisco.
While some people might welcome a respite from foreign tourists, what is also true is that trade and FDI relies critically on the ability of businesspeople being able to traverse borders easily. So, in case you wanted even costlier and scarcer imports, this is the policy for you.
I don’t see Detroit on the list, which is kind of amazing given that it’s right on the border with our next 51st state. Isn’t Bruce Hall always whining about those radical libs in Detroit?
Speaking of Markwayne, he is trying to put his wife on the government payroll by designating her as a Special Government Employee at up to $70 per hour. It also means that she can travel around travel the country with Markwayne in their $100 million government jet without having to compensate the government for her airfare or hotels.
Her only qualifications appear to be a high school diploma and helping her husband run their plumbing business. But to be fair, that is also her husband’s only qualifications. For an agency with 260,000 employees and a $500 billion budget.
Recall that Kristi Noam had the same deal with her boyfriend Corey Lewadowski working as a Special Government Employee so he could accompany her on her trips. The grift never ends.
Bullies gotta bully.
We do have laws, and courts to enforce them. It’s a Constitution thing. If our least-educated cabinet member doesn’t think he can win against other levels of government in court, maybe he should take a course in government and see how these issues have been worked out in the past.
Considering that international travel comes through a whole lot of cities that he would target, the air traffic mess would be epic. If he’s dumb enough to do more than just talk about this, all kinds of problems will crop up. But then he works for a guy whose great economic and business acumen led to bankrupting a casino, going bust playing with house money.
What, all of the airlines are going divert their international flights from NY and LA to Biloxi? That should make travelers happy. There would be mass cancellation of tickets. This is insanity. But what else would you expect from a plumber. You would think he would know something about removing clogs from the transportation system.
Just in time for the FIFA events, which hoteliers are already saying is a bust because foreigners are terrified of encounters with CBP and ICE and staying away.