Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confronted Sen. Chris Murphy at a hearing Tuesday, telling the Democratic lawmaker he was “reckless” and inciting violence with his anti-ICE rhetoric.
Mr. Murphy said Democrats won’t fund Mr. Mullin’s department and its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations because “never before in the history of our nation has a federal agency been run so far off the rails as the Department of Homeland Security.”
“Every day, this agency is breaking the law at scale and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars,” the Connecticut Democrat declared from the dais. “DHS does not implement the law any longer. It makes up the law.”
Mr. Mullin clapped back: “The outlandish claims you made there is just flat wrong.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., questions Secretary …
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“You start saying we’re breaking the law, and you really start looking at it, and we’re enforcing the laws that Congress did pass — that’s reckless,” he said. “We swore to uphold the Constitution just like you swore to uphold the Constitution.”
He said that if Mr. Murphy does not like the laws that his department is enforcing, “you can change them.”
“We’re not picking and choosing which laws we enforce; we’re simply enforcing the law,” the secretary informed the senator.
Mr. Mullin then accused Mr. Murphy of inciting violence.
“When you throw out reckless terms, and you start referring to our agents as being dangerous, unconstitutional and lawless, that’s why our agents’ death threats are up by 8,000%,” he said. “I know that’s not what you want, but your political theater, that’s what it causes.”
Mr. Murphy’s cited one federal court decision regarding ICE activities in Minnesota, in which U.S. District Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz issued a reprimand to federal immigration enforcement in January.
Judge Schiltz, appointed by former President George W. Bush, identified at least 96 court orders that ICE violated in 74 cases across Minnesota in just January, noting that the figure was likely an undercount.
“This list should give pause to anyone, no matter his or her political beliefs, who cares about the rule of law. ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence. ICE is not a law unto itself,” he wrote in his ruling.
Judge Schiltz threatened to hold ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, in contempt of court.
Mr. Murphy said, “Whether you want to believe it or not, at the root of our disagreement is that it is very hard for us to figure out how to fund an agency that is violating the law.”
“I understand your M.O., and others in the administration’s M.O., is to attack us personally or to claim that we’re inciting violence when we point out the widespread illegality, but this is a Republican-appointed judge who is saying the exact same thing that I am saying,” he said.
Pressed on whether he would comply with a court order that determines the department is acting illegally, Mr. Mullin said that he “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.”
“We should be really concerned about the rulings that come out of the courts, and often they get overturned,” he continued. “They fall apart when you have a judge that makes a political opinion from a bench, or they’re outside the law too. Not all judges are above the law, but sometimes they think they are the law. That’s why we see lower courts get overturned by higher courts constantly.”
