DHS chief fires back at Jayapal over ICE arrest claim

A heated debate over U.S. immigration enforcement has emerged between Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Rep. Pramila Jayapal.

Jayapal criticized the administration’s enforcement strategy, saying: “For the first time this summer, the majority of people that DHS arrested were people who pose absolutely no threat to public safety, and the number of people with criminal convictions who are arrested by ICE actually decreased — decreased, not increased.”

She added: “That’s because when DHS expends all of its energy to go after parents, longtime friends, neighbors, when Homeland Security Investigations agents who are supposed to investigate serious crime and human trafficking are instead being moved to street sweeps and riding along with local police for random traffic stops, we are less safe, not more safe.”

Mullin strongly rejected that characterization.

“If we're going to have national security in this country, we [need to] know everybody that's entered this country. And so, I'm not going to release you back into the public once we know that you entered this country illegally. It's time for you to go home.”

He also said: “All the angel families that lost their loved ones at the hands of an illegal is 100% preventable, because that illegal shouldn't be in our country to begin with.”

Mullin further argued: “When you decide you're going to break our immigration policies, and you're going to cut the line, you're going to step across our southern border, you're going to step across our northern border. You're still a criminal. We’re still gonna arrest you.”

DHS says ICE made nearly 51,000 arrests nationwide in August.

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