Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the Trump administration's immigration enforcement and border security efforts Wednesday, blasting "radical Democrats," praising Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and predicting the primary southern border wall will be completed within a year.
On Newsmax's "Carl Higbie: FRONTLINE," Mullin discussed confrontations between congressional Democrats and ICE officers. Mullin said "you have these radical Democrats that continue to get more radical" and argued they are "running on defunding ICE" and aren't interested in enforcing immigration law.
He added: "We don't make the laws; we enforce the laws. And guess who makes the laws? Congress."
Mullin contrasted Republicans' and Democrats' immigration priorities, saying Republicans believe the United States should "build the freaking wall."
"We need to know who's coming in," he said, adding that immigrants should "contribute to society because you want to chase the American dream," not "live off the taxpayer dollar."
Mullin also criticized a federal judge's recent immigration ruling, calling the jurist "an activist judge" who "literally [is] trying to say that, 'No, I know best. I don't have to listen to the Supreme Court.'"
Despite the ruling, Mullin vowed that "it's not going to stop us from deporting them" and said the Department of Homeland Security is "enforcing the laws and we will follow the law, but I'm enforcing all of our laws regardless."
Highlighting operations by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mullin said the agencies endured a 115-day funding lapse that left some personnel overseas unpaid since February.
"I have the greatest job in the world," he said. "This building, and all of our components, are full of patriots because they're willing to do their job for free to protect the homeland."
On border infrastructure, Mullin predicted significant progress by next year, adding that construction of a secondary wall would already be underway to give agents more time to respond to breaches.
Mullin also revealed authorities recently located a cross-border tunnel.
"We discovered our very first tunnel we've discovered in years," he said, arguing traffickers "didn't have to worry about going underground during the Biden administration," but "now we push them underground and we push them to Canada."
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