Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said on Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not yet handed over information about several controversial fatal shootings in Minnesota involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement in January.
Paul, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the DHS has not shared the findings from its investigations into ICE’s fatal encounters with Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, despite his panel’s continued requests. Paul’s claim comes as he has long feuded with Mullin over what he perceived as the secretary’s inappropriately lackadaisical response to a beating the senator suffered at the hands of an angry neighbor.
“We’ve asked for information. We’re still asking,” Paul told Politico on Capitol Hill.
The January shootings of the two U.S. citizens triggered a stream of nationwide anti-ICE protests due to concerns that the DHS lied about the circumstances of the killings and condoned excessive force from federal agents. They also sparked bipartisan calls from Congress for reforms at the agency. Kristi Noem, then the head of homeland security, which oversees ICE, was ultimately fired by President Donald Trump as concerns about her leadership over the agency swept Washington.
Her departure led to Mullin’s appointment as the DHS’s new secretary. As he was grilled over his plans for the department during a Senate confirmation hearing in March, Mullin expressed a desire to take a “better approach” to ICE, made conciliatory overtures to lawmakers, and vowed to “bring back confidence” in the department. He also apologized for calling Pretti “a deranged individual that came in to cause max damage,” telling Congress, “sometimes I’m going to make mistakes, and I own it.”
In the months since taking over the DHS, Mullin has aimed to make reforms. In June, he promised that training for ICE officers would revert to the 72-day requirement, rather than a 42-day accelerated program implemented under Noem.
“I can have different opinions with everybody in this room, but as secretary of homeland, I will be protecting everybody,” he told lawmakers in March. “It’s bigger than the partisan bickering that we have. It’s bigger than the political differences we have.”
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“I won’t back down from a challenge, and I also admit when I’m wrong. I’m not perfect. I don’t claim to be perfect. I make mistakes just like anybody else. But mistakes, if you own them, you can learn from them, and you can move ahead. And I’ll make that commitment to you,” Mullin added. ”We want to protect the homeland, but we also want peace of mind.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the DHS for comment.