Washington, DC — The following is a new Substack post from America’s Voice editor Gabe Ortíz. Read “Markwayne Mullin’s ‘Softer Tone’ Doesn’t Change The Fact That Mass Deportation Will Rage On” on AV’s Substack and find key excerpts below:
The man on point to lead some of the most violent and out-of-control government agencies is the same man who excused a violent assault against a fellow member of Congress. Meet Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and his goal during Wednesday’s U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs came down to one thing: don’t blow a gasket.
The ploy seemed to work, at least when it came to some of the mainstream and beltway media outlets. “Homeland Security nominee strikes softer tone on immigration,” reported The New York Times. Mullin stressed “that he’ll be a different type of leader of the embattled department,” Politico said. “Mullin makes his case as a steady hand for DHS,” the AP said.
Let’s be real here: even a tone as gentle as a Downy fabric softener sheet can’t change the fact that the scourge of mass deportation will rage on under Mullin, who made clear during his hearing “that he would remain loyal to Mr. Trump and carry out his promise to crack down on illegal immigration and ramp up arrests if confirmed as homeland security secretary,” as The NY Times ends up admitting.
PLAYING DUMB
Let’s look at the receipts. When questioned on the excessive use of force against American and immigrant communities, Mullin played dumb, claiming that he was “not familiar with the investigation” into the incident where a mass deportation agent shot American citizen Marimar Martinez five times and then bragged about it in texts with colleagues. “Shouldn’t we be disgusted by an agent that fires at a U.S. citizen?” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked. “Don’t you agree with me that that agent should not be carrying a firearm?”
The hearing also saw Mullin refusing to give a straight “yes” or “no” answer when questioned about abductions at locations that were formerly deemed “sensitive locations” by ICE’s own guidelines.
“Do you think it is okay for them to operate and arrest people at hospitals?” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) asked. “Sir, I will, um, always support my law enforcement doing their job,” Mullin responded.
WATCH WHAT HE DOES, NOT WHAT HE SAYS
Mullin was further questioned on the secretive ICE memo that purports to give mass deportation agents the authority to invade our houses without a judicial warrant. While Mullin claimed to Blumenthal that he would not enter a home or business “without a judicial warrant,” the past year in particular has made clear that what ICE says and what ICE does are two different things. In other words, we’ll believe it when we see it.
“A whistleblower testified to our hearing that in fact ICE agents had been instructed as part of their training to forcibly enter—I know you don’t like the word ‘break-in,’ but forcibly enter is breaking into somebody’s home, bashing down the door, terrorizing children. Instructed them to adopt this policy,” Blumenthal said. “Will you commit that no longer will ICE agents or CBP agents be instructed to forcibly enter people’s homes without a judicial warrant?”
“Sir, I already answered this question for you,” Mullin responded. “I said we will not enter a home or place of business without a judicial warrant unless we are pursuing an individual that runs into a place of business or residence—or a house.”
What is to stop mass deportation agents from lying about an individual they decided to target? Last year, legal advocates noted the administration lied when it claimed that Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil tried to flee agents. However, surveillance footage showed Khalil “complied and cooperated with officers in his lobby on March 8 after ICE agents illegally entered his private Columbia-owned apartment building without a judicial warrant,” the American Civil Liberties Union said.
MINNESOTA KILLINGS WERE JUSTIFIED
Mullin also tried – key word: tried – to soothe over backlash to his outrageous commentary concerning Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens who were brutally shot and killed by mass deportation agents in Minnesota earlier this year. While Mullin claimed that he regretted calling Pretti “deranged,” he refused to directly apologize to his family.
“I haven’t seen the investigation,” Mullin again claimed. “We’ll let the investigation go through. And if I’m proven wrong, then I will absolutely.”
But again, the video footage doesn’t lie. “The ICU nurse fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis was not armed at the time of his killing, despite the claim from officials, according to witness footage,” as People reported. “Pretti is seen standing among a group of protesters with both hands visible, while holding his phone in one hand as an agent squirts pepper spray at the group.” In fact, Pretti had come to the aid of a woman who’d been pepper-sprayed when he was shot execution-style by a federal agent.
One of the most telling moments of the entire hearing was in relation to Stephen Miller’s response to Pretti’s killing. When asked if the mass deportation architect was “irresponsible” for falsely claiming that the VA ICU nurse was a “domestic terrorist,” Mullin demurred.
NOTHING WILL CHANGE, THE CHAOS WILL CONTINUE
“Please, let’s not be fooled again,” noted Joanna Kuebler, Chief of Programs at America’s Voice. “A ‘soft’ tone does not replace the hard reality of mass deportation. The latest ‘messaging’ from the wannabe DHS leader and his Republican allies is nothing more than a cover up of the relentless Trump/Miller vision to purge America of immigrants.”
“The cruelty, chaos and violence resulting from mass deportation continues every day,” Kuebler continued, “and requires actually reining in the violent mass deportation agenda and realigning colossally misplaced priorities that the majority of Americans soundly reject – not playing musical chairs with DHS leadership or revamping messaging to whitewash the reality in communities across America.”
