5 things to know about Trump's DHS pick Markwayne Mullin
5. He has come under fire from conservatives for vote on refugee welfare
As news broke that Trump was tapping Mullin to lead DHS, aspects of his voting record and past public statements have received renewed attention and criticism from immigration hawks, who represent a significant portion of the Republican political coalition.
Kelley Paul, the wife of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., shared a list of Senate Republicans who voted against what she described as her husband’s “amendment to cut refugee welfare” in an X post Sunday in response to an article highlighting the high usage of welfare in Somali immigrant homes in Minnesota.
The vote in question took place Jan. 30, and Mullin was one of the 20 Republicans who voted against the amendment. This caught the attention of conservative commentator Ann Coulter, who sarcastically commented in an X post, “OF COURSE, Trump’s new DHS secy, BruceWayne Melon is among them."
Coulter also published an X post last week sharing a headline from a February Breitbart article titled “Mullin: There Is Possible Conversation About Legalizing Some in U.S. Illegally,” citing the article’s headline as evidence that “There are 47 people who would have been better to lead Homeland Security.”
The article was based on an interview Mullin did with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, where he was asked how he felt about the efforts of Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., to allow over 25 million illegal immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for a “long period of time” to remain in the U.S. “Zero starter if we’re talking about amnesty towards citizenship, but Mike made that very clear, we’re not doing that,” Mullin responded.
“I think there would be a conversation that [you] might have towards like DACA individuals that were brought here under the age of 18 by their parents,” he said. “Maybe if you want to talk to someone that’s been here in the country for 10 years or longer, I don’t know, there’s a conversation that [you] could have.”
Mullin clarified that he would not support allowing “all these individuals that flooded over here that we have no idea who they are at all, during the Biden administration” to remain in the U.S. He expressed openness to having a “very long conversation” between “Democrats and Republicans” as well as “the people that elected us,” acknowledging that “that’s a very difficult path” while stressing “I’m not saying that … it’s not an absolute nonstarter” and reiterating that “it is, if we talk anything about amnesty, at all.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
