By Ted Hesson and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) – U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin declined to commit to following court orders that run against the Trump administration’s immigration policies, when grilled by a top Democratic senator at a hearing on Tuesday.
Reflecting partisan tensions over the Republican-driven crackdown, Senator Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee, pressed Mullin repeatedly to confirm that he would follow decisions by federal judges and said the administration had failed to do that in the past.
“If we didn’t think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that,” Mullin said. “But we see courts over and over again that use their bench for their political opinion.”
Murphy responded that failing to adhere to court rulings could lead to a breakdown in the rule of law.
“If you’re a Republican or Democrat on this committee, you should be really, really freaked out,” Murphy said.
The public faceoff came as Republicans are pushing for $72 billion in additional funding for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort over the next three years, a sum that comes on top of a historic $170 billion devoted to the crackdown in a spending package passed in 2025.
Mullin, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, became secretary in March and pledged to continue Trump’s immigration crackdown with a more low-key approach.
Last week, he threatened to shut down international travel into Newark’s airport unless state and local officials in New Jersey helped secure the area around an immigration detention center, sparking pushback from the travel industry with the start of the soccer World Cup less than two weeks away.
In opening remarks to the Senate panel, Mullin deviated from a prepared statement and urged Democrats to approve the funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol.
“You haven’t funded my officers,” Mullin said, adding federal immigration officers have “been willing to do the job for free.”
STANDOFF OVER IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT
Democrats have pushed for reforms to immigration enforcement after agents carrying out Trump’s aggressive crackdown deployed tear gas in residential neighborhoods, arrested parents in front of their children and detained U.S. citizens who tried to track them in their cars.
Mullin’s predecessor, Kristi Noem, prominently surged federal agents into U.S. cities and drew scrutiny for federal contracts awarded to Republican operatives. Trump fired Noem as public approval for his immigration policies fell after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
Murphy said Mullin had failed to moderate the approach to immigration enforcement despite promises to lower the temperature.
“Nothing has really gotten better,” Murphy said. “Every single day, this agency is violating the Constitution and the law.”
Mullin told Murphy that his criticism was demonizing the work of ICE officers and Border Patrol agents.
“We swore to uphold the Constitution, just like you swore to uphold the Constitution,” Mullin said.
TENSE SCENES AT NEW JERSEY DETENTION CENTER
Protesters have amassed in recent weeks outside the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, where immigrant detainees raised concerns about conditions.
Mullin said on Thursday that he would shut down international travel and cargo into the Newark airport unless local law enforcement secured the area around Delaney Hall. Over the weekend, New Jersey State Police closed off an area where protesters had been gathering.
Mullin said on Monday that he did not presently need to halt international flight processing at Newark, citing cooperation from state and local law enforcement near the detention center.
The threat to cut off international transit into the Newark airport followed earlier comments by Mullin to try to pressure so-called “sanctuary” cities into fuller cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Major airline, travel and business groups have warned that barring border processing at Newark or other major U.S. airports could lead to chaos, strand thousands of tourists and Americans trying to get home, and prevent crucial cargo shipments.
The World Cup, which begins on June 11, could potentially draw millions of foreign visitors to the U.S., further raising the stakes for Mullin’s airport threat. Eight matches, including the final, will be played at MetLife Stadium, a short drive from the Newark airport.
Mullin is set to testify on Wednesday before the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson and David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Stephen Coates and Alistair Bell)
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