Posted on 05/06/2026 1:44:37 PM PDT by Signalman
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Newsmax on Tuesday the Trump administration is continuing full-scale immigration enforcement but is deliberately taking a lower-profile approach than his predecessor, Kristi Noem, to allow agents to operate without interference.
"We're staying focused on all illegals, without question," Mullin told "Rob Schmitt Tonight," pushing back on criticism that the Department of Homeland Security is prioritizing only criminal illegal immigrants. "That doesn't mean we're slowing down even a little bit."
Mullin said the shift is largely about strategy and visibility, not substance.
"We're purposely trying to be a little bit more quiet," he said, adding that he made clear during his confirmation process that he wanted "to get DHS out of the headlines so our ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents, our CBP [Customs and Border Protection] agents ... could go do their job without being harassed by the media."
Under Noem, DHS frequently highlighted enforcement actions publicly. Mullin said his approach is to reduce publicity while maintaining — and in some cases accelerating — operations.
"Just yesterday, we arrested over 1,900 individuals. We have over 60,000 individuals that are currently being detained going through the process of being deported," he said.
"Last week, we deported over 2,700."
He acknowledged legal challenges have slowed some removals but added, "We haven't missed a beat. We're still on track, pushing as hard as we can."
A key operational difference is increased coordination with local law enforcement through programs like 287(g), which allows state and local agencies to assist with federal immigration enforcement.
"We just are doing it in a different way by using local law enforcement to work with us," Mullin said, noting he met with local officials Tuesday to expand those efforts.
He contrasted that with the Biden administration, saying ICE agents previously faced restrictions.
"They couldn't even go pick up individuals when local law enforcement would hold them," he said, adding agents also struggled to deport individuals after prison release.
Mullin said the administration is now "leaning extremely hard on that," while also ramping up hiring and targeting broader populations, including unaccounted-for migrant children.
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Correction on publishing date: 5/6/2026,
Yeah, because it’s already molasses-paced.
Throw the illegals into a barge used for oil. Ship them to Africa.
You should be able to piles many tens of thousands of illegals into that barge’s holding tanks.
How about speeding them up.
Just want trump to steal Obama’s nickname, “Deporter in chief”. If he could get half the number Obama did out of here, that’d be something.
Did Obama face scores of lawsuits, nationally and internationally organized resistance, openly hostile members of Congress making a show of themselves, a relentlessly hostile media, frequent protest rallies, physical attacks on ICE agents, doxxing of ICE and other officials, and attempted assassination while he was doing his deporting?
Was Obama going after the criminal element and dealing with the screams for due process, or just ignoring the law and boasting about numbers? Were all of his deportees permanently barred from reentry, or was he just counting a lot of seasonal workers who would have gone back anyway?
If not, it's apples to oranges.
I hear ICE is hiring.
Toss in an application and you can show us all how to do it better.
Jerk.
L
Clueless dolt.
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