By Ted Hesson and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) – U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin testified before a Senate panel on Tuesday after tensions flared over conditions in a New Jersey immigration detention center and Mullin threatened to shut down international travel into a major airport with the soccer World Cup less than two weeks away.
The public faceoff came as Republicans are pushing for $72 billion in additional funding for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort over the next three years, a sum that comes on top of a historic $170 billion devoted to the crackdown in a spending package passed in 2025.
Mullin, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, became secretary in March and pledged to continue Trump’s immigration crackdown with a more low-key approach. The hearing on Tuesday before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee was his first public congressional testimony since he was confirmed.
In opening remarks, Mullin deviated from a prepared statement and urged Democrats to approve the funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol.
“You haven’t funded my officers,” Mullin said, adding federal immigration officers have “been willing to do the job for free.”
Democrats have pushed for reforms to immigration enforcement after agents carrying out Trump’s aggressive crackdown deployed tear gas in residential neighborhoods, arrested parents in front of their children and detained U.S. citizens who tried to track them in their cars.
Mullin’s predecessor, Kristi Noem, prominently surged federal agents into U.S. cities and drew scrutiny for federal contracts awarded to Republican operatives. Trump fired Noem as public approval for his immigration policies fell after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
PRESSURE TO ADHERE TO COURT ORDERS
Senator Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee, said at the hearing on Tuesday that Mullin had failed to moderate the approach to immigration enforcement despite promises to lower the temperature.
“Nothing has really gotten better,” Murphy said. “Every single day, this agency is violating the Constitution and the law.”
Mullin told Murphy that his criticism was demonizing the work of ICE and Border Patrol officers.
“We swore to uphold the Constitution, just like you swore to uphold the Constitution,” Mullin said.
Murphy pressed Mullin to commit to following court orders even if they go against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies, but Mullin declined.
“If we didn’t think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that,” Mullin said. “But we see courts over and over again that use their bench for their political opinion.”
Murphy responded that failing to adhere to court rulings could lead to a breakdown in the rule of law.
“If you’re a Republican or Democrat on this committee, you should be really, really freaked out,” he said.
TENSE SCENES AT NEW JERSEY DETENTION CENTER
Protesters have amassed in recent weeks outside the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, where immigrant detainees raised concerns about conditions.
Mullin said on Thursday that he would shut down international travel and cargo into the Newark airport unless local law enforcement secured the area around Delaney Hall. Over the weekend, New Jersey State Police closed off an area where protesters had been gathering.
Mullin said on Monday that he did not presently need to halt international flight processing at Newark, citing cooperation from state and local law enforcement near the detention center.
The threat to cut off international transit into the Newark airport follows earlier comments by Mullin to try to pressure so-called “sanctuary” cities into fuller cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Major airline, travel and business groups have warned that barring border processing at Newark or other major U.S. airports could lead to chaos, strand thousands of tourists and Americans trying to get home, and prevent crucial cargo shipments.
The World Cup, which begins on June 11, could potentially draw millions of foreign visitors to the U.S., further raising the stakes for Mullin’s airport threat. Eight matches, including the final, will be played at MetLife Stadium, a short drive from the Newark airport.
Mullin is set to testify on Wednesday before the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson and David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke in San Francisco and Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Stephen Coates and Alistair Bell)
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