DHS finds itself back in the headlines after 3 fatal ICE encounters, in a test for Secretary Mullin

WASHINGTON — When Markwayne Mullin took over from dismissed Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, he promised to remove the department that executed the Trump administration’s mass deportations strategy out of the limelight.

Yet, just months into Mullin’s term in office, the department is again embroiled in scandal after three people were killed in clashes with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the course of less than a week.

The events represent the first big test for Mr. Mullin, who ran on providing stable leadership to a department roiled by his predecessor’s behavior and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

He is being pressed into a balancing act as he deals with the uptick in violence, balancing pressures from a White House eager to carry out mass deportations, former colleagues in Congress looking for answers, all while trying to cool tensions in American cities over the deaths.

“Secretary Mullin, when he took his job, said his goal was to get the department off the front page of the news,” said Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner on the House floor Tuesday. Then he waved a newspaper and yelled, “Well, you’re back on the goddamn front page now.”

Mullin’s approach is a sharp break from his predecessor, Kristi Noem Mullin, a former senator from Oklahoma, was a surprise pick to lead the sprawling department after Noem was fired following two deadly shootings of American protesters by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis earlier this year.

Noem, the secretary overseeing the administration’s program for mass deportations, advocated for a tough approach of immigration enforcement and was front and center in it, most notoriously during a visit to a Salvadoran detention camp. She has been eager to publicly comment on sensitive events, stepping in on both Minneapolis shootings with statements blaming the murdered protestors of being agitators.

Noem, who had made mass deportations a centerpiece of her second administration pledge, eventually turned sour on President Donald Trump over a $200 million ad campaign and her leadership of the Minneapolis operation.

Mullin pledged a different tack but still committed to execute the president's agenda. His first trip as secretary wasn’t to push immigration enforcement, but to survey disaster recovery work in North Carolina. Noem often accompanied her cops on immigration raids. Mullin hasn’t.

Since taking office as secretary and in the aftermath of the tragedy in Minneapolis, the administration has also turned away from high-profile and controversial immigration operations in American cities to a softer method to enforcement that has largely taken the media’s focus away from the crackdown. Mullin is also pulling back from a plan to keep migrants in warehouses under Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

However, immigration arrests are still happening under Mullin, often without any notice. For instance, in late June, ICE arrested 10,000 people over five days, averaging around 2,000 arrests per day. And legal routes to immigration have also been shut down again.

During Mullin’s term, Trump has called the secretary “so incredible,” and “amazing,” praising him for giving up his Senate seat to manage DHS.

For months, Mullin’s change in attitude appeared to be working. Mullin’s less combative approach appeared to keep the agency out of the limelight, even as advocates and civil rights activists alleged the police mistreated immigrants under his supervision.

ICE fatalities put renewed emphasis to Mullin and DHS But the previous week’s events have created a new dilemma for Mullin as he walks a tightrope between his gentler approach and the president’s demands.

“Balancing competing policy objectives is something any Cabinet secretary has to deal with, but Mullin has this more than most,” said Tom Warrick, a former counterterrorism official at Homeland Security who’s now at the Atlantic Council.

“The White House needs to meet their immigration quotas and maintain public trust at the same time with Homeland Security, and how you do that — even with the funding that Mullin has — is a really difficult challenge,” said a Republican close to Mullin.

ICE officers in Houston and Maine shot people in their cars during immigration operations. Florida Car Crash Kills Man Running From ICE Officers.

Mullin has not spoken publicly about the deaths, and the department’s public affairs division has issued only brief statements after each one.

Mullin, who regularly brags about giving his cell phone number to members of Congress and telling them to call him personally, has spoken with lawmakers and given information behind the scenes, including both Maine senators.

After a second fatal shooting in Maine and mounting outrage from demonstrators and from Mullin’s former colleagues in Congress, ICE was told to discontinue most vehicle stops.

Trump puts heat on Mullin over car stop order That decision angered Trump loyalists.

"TOTAL CAPITULATION to the left." conservative influencer Nick Sorter tweeted on X. Conservative activist Mike Davis accused Mullin of taking advice from Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who stated she had suggested the vehicle halt pause to the secretary.

A day later, Trump appeared to contradict the guidance to ICE, posting on social media “we must be strong, tough and smart and we CANNOT give up one of ICEs most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!”

Mullin retweeted Trump, adding that anyone in the country would be “arrested and deported wherever they are.” Later on X, he stated he and the president are “on the same page.”

It wasn't clear if car stops were resumed immediately.

But it highlighted the tension between Mullin’s attempts to promote calm and the president’s insistence that illegal aliens — many of whom the administration has characterized as criminals — be arrested en masse.

The new secretary has been criticized by Democrats, who claim they perceive no change at the department.

“Secretary Mullin has the ability to get ICE under control, make them follow the law if he wants to and if he has the backing of the White House,” said Congressman Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas. “So either he doesn’t want to do that, or the White House doesn’t want to support him, or the agents are just out of control.”

Mullin has been defended by Republican lawmakers.

“I think the Secretary has done what he’s wanted to do to try to change the atmosphere over there,” said Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York, who as chairman of the congressional Homeland Security Committee has asked for a bipartisan briefing on ICE’s use-of-force regulations from DHS.

“I don’t think anyone is celebrating the fact that ICE is back in the headlines,” Garbarino added.