3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 17
Summary
Markwayne Mullin said the administration will keep intensifying immigration arrests, aligning himself with President Trump after two fatal ICE shootings in Texas and Maine triggered backlash.
Trump had publicly urged officers to keep making vehicle stops a day after Homeland Security paused that tactic, and Mullin said there was "no daylight" between him and the president on enforcement.
Mullin refused to discuss whether the officers in the Houston and Biddeford shootings were on administrative leave and said only that the investigations should proceed.
More than 10,000 people were detained in five days late last month, and officers were told to meet a new benchmark of 2,000 arrests a day—about double the pace earlier this year.
Mullin said deportations are running faster than last year, underscoring how the White House is pressing ahead with its mass-deportation push despite scrutiny of enforcement tactics.