A Senate Appropriations Committee hearing was derailed Tuesday after Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin got into a heated exchange, prompting the Democrat to tell Mullin to “calm down.”
Van Hollen, who is best known for flying to El Salvador to meet with controversial illegal immigrant and alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of having a “pattern” of abuse while enforcing immigration law. He pointed to several recent DHS-involved shootings, including those involving Venezuelan national Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
Mullin pushed back against the allegation as an “exaggeration of words,” saying, “When you say there’s a pattern, there’s not a pattern.”
“Oh, I would say three in a row is a pattern,” retorted Van Hollen, to which Mullin shot back, “No, sir … a pattern of three people when we average 1900 a day is not a pattern.”
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Van Hollen insisted “there was a pattern.” As the two talked over each other, Van Hollen shook his head, saying, “Let’s get out the dictionary, put your semantics aside, the reality is this is a big problem.”
He pressed Mullin to commit to sharing evidence from the federal officer-involved shootings to Minnesota authorities.
“It sounds like you’re not willing to share evidence with the state authorities who are trying to get to the bottom of this. And I will just say, Mr. Secretary, that given the statements that came out of this administration, including the White House, it is hard to trust this administration to do an independent investigation,” said Van Hollen.
“But yet you trust your last administration?” Mullin fired back.
“I’m just saying if we’re calling an apple what an apple is and an orange what an orange is, don’t sit there and start cherry-picking one administration to believe and another administration not to believe,” Mullin continued.
In response, Van Hollen raised his hands and said, “Mr. Secretary, just, just please calm down.”
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During the hearing, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., pressed Mullin to commit to abiding by court orders, citing a federal judge’s claim that DHS had violated just under 100 orders in Minnesota. Murphy also criticized DHS for “spending money like stone drunk sailors,” including on “the massive detention centers that you are building.”
Murphy asked Mullin, “Now that you are on the job, can you commit to us that if a court judges something ICE is doing, something DHS is doing as illegal, unconstitutional, tells you to stop, that you will comply with the court order?”
Mullin answered, “We will never break the Constitution, and we’re not going to break the law, but we’re going to enforce our nation’s laws, and we’re going to enforce the laws that you guys passed and that we implement. We will never go outside that. And if we do, we’ll hold each other accountable for that.”
“But that doesn’t sound like the same thing as committing that you will obey a court order,” pressed Murphy. “Will you, or will you not implement court orders?”
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In response, Mullin said, “If we didn’t think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that. But we see courts over and over again that use their bench for their political opinion, not just the rule of law.”
He chided Murphy, saying, “Don’t put words in my mouth,” adding, “What I’m saying is we will enforce the law, and we’re never going to break the Constitution.”
Looking aside to his colleagues on the committee, Murphy remarked, “Listen, if you’re a Republican or Democrat on this committee, you should be really, really freaked out.”
“We should be really concerned about the rulings that come out of the courts, and how often they get overturned,” retorted Mullin.
WATCH: Dem scolds Homeland Security chief to ‘calm down’ after hearing derails over alleged ‘pattern’ 2026 IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2025 2026-06-03 12:35:24 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
