Magaziner tells DHS chief ‘you’re back on the goddamn front page’
Markwayne Mullin took office as Homeland Security secretary after Kristi Noem was fired, pledging to get the department out of the headlines, the Associated Press reported. Three people were then killed in encounters with ICE officers in the span of less than a week, placing Mullin before what the AP described as his first major test.
Mullin promised a steady hand for a department roiled by his predecessor’s conduct and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, according to the AP. The deaths have forced him into a balancing act between a White House eager to carry out mass deportations, his former colleagues in Congress seeking answers, and efforts to ease tensions in American cities over the deaths, the AP reported.
“When he took his position, Secretary Mullin said that his goal was to get the department off the front page of the news,” Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner said on the House floor Tuesday. Then, waving a newspaper, he said: “Well, you’re back on the goddamn front page now.”
Prior MSI reporting documented Mullin taking office at a time of funding disputes and public scrutiny over immigration enforcement, including the Senate confirming him as the department faced a funding standoff and as lawmakers argued over changes to ICE operations.