FAA chief responds to calls to halt Newark international flights
A CBP pullback, not a flight ban, is the real threat at Newark. The Delaney Hall standoff is turning airport staffing into immigration politics.
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford is confronting a proposal that would not stop planes from landing at Newark Liberty International Airport, but could still choke off international travel. Markwayne Mullin said the government could pull Customs and Border Protection officers from the airport to reinforce federal agents outside Delaney Hall in Newark, which would delay processing for international passengers and cargo without formally halting flights.
The standoff centers on Delaney Hall, a privately run immigration detention center where protests had entered their seventh day as of May 28. Federal officials said demonstrators blocked entrances and interfered with a detainee transfer, prompting agents to use pepper spray and batons. Visitation was suspended out of caution after the clashes, and the facility holds roughly 300 detainees. The unrest has become part of a broader fight over immigration enforcement in Newark, where tensions over detention, policing and protests have repeatedly spilled into public view.
Mullin said the shift could happen “pretty quick” if conditions did not change, but added that the administration would not be “halting the flights” itself. The practical issue is authority: flights can keep moving, but without CBP officers, international travelers and cargo cannot be processed normally. That distinction matters at Newark Liberty, one of the region’s key international gateways and a major hub for United Airlines.
The airport is already under federal operational limits. The Federal Aviation Administration extended an order limiting Newark operations through October 24, 2026, after comments from the airport operator and airlines seeking continued caps to ease congestion. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey runs the airport, but the immigration-processing threat sits with the federal agencies that staff arrivals and screen cargo.
The dispute also revived memories of the unrest around Delaney Hall last year, when Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested there on trespassing charges on May 9, 2025, during a chaotic scene involving protesters, members of Congress and federal agents. Baraka said he was there to support congressional oversight; federal officials said he ignored warnings to leave. AP’s 2026 New Jersey election coverage later noted that Baraka was seeking a fourth term, underscoring how the detention fight has become part of local politics.
The Homeland Security Department said it could soon stop processing international travelers and cargo at Newark if local law enforcement do not assist federal immigration officials. That puts airport staffing, immigration enforcement and protest response on the same fault line, with Newark Liberty caught in the middle.
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