DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin refused Tuesday to commit to following federal court orders, telling senators he reserves the right to disregard rulings he considers politically motivated — setting off a tense confrontation at a Senate Appropriations hearing with the panel's top Democrat.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, pressed Mullin four times for a straight answer: would DHS comply with court orders directing the agency to halt illegal or unconstitutional conduct? Four times, Mullin refused to say yes.
"I will never break the Constitution," Mullin repeated. "We're going to enforce the law."
Murphy fired back that the two aren't the same thing. "The entire structure of the federal government gives the power to the federal courts to divine whether you are obeying the law or not," he said.
When Mullin suggested that courts are too "politicized" to deserve automatic compliance, Murphy warned the full committee: "If you're a Republican or Democrat on this committee, you should be really, really freaked out."
The exchange comes against a backdrop of documented mass noncompliance by ICE under Mullin's predecessor. Minnesota's Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz — a Republican appointee — found that ICE violated 96 court orders in a single month, writing that "ICE is not a law unto itself."
Murphy quoted that ruling directly at Mullin, noting pointedly: "That's not a Democratic-appointed judge."
Confirmed in March in a 54-45 vote as DHS's ninth secretary, Mullin replaced Kristi Noem, who was fired after bipartisan outrage over her tenure.
At his confirmation hearing, Mullin had pledged a softer approach to enforcement and promised to work across the aisle.