President Trump’s new Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin faced a Senate committee to answer questions regarding ICE activities in Minnesota and the nearly 100 court orders that ICE has allegedly violated. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said the list of violations “should give pause to everyone, no matter of their political beliefs, who cares about the rule of law.”
Murphy read from a Republican-appointed federal judge’s assessment, which included the statement: “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies violated in their entire existence.”
Murphy, who noted that Mullin wasn’t DHS Secretary in January, asked, “Now that you’re on the job, can you commit to us…that will you comply with a court order?”
Yes – this is our constitutional crisis in a nutshell. Mullin says he will pick and choose which court orders to follow based on whether he likes them or not.
That’s a reciple for the total destruction of our democracy. That’s totalitarianism. https://t.co/R5IKGf6kIq
— Chris Murphy
(@ChrisMurphyCT) June 3, 2026
Mullin replied, “If we didn’t think the courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that. But we see courts over and over again that use their bench for their political opinion, not just the rule of law.”
When Murphy asked, “So you would pick and choose which orders you obey based upon whether you believe that appointee’s political agenda?”, Mullin replied, “Don’t put words in my mouth.” When Murphy asked, “So what are you saying then?”
Mullin replied: “What I’m saying is we’ll enforce the law and won’t break the Constitution.”
Murphy responded: “You just said that you will not follow every court order.” Mullin again said the Senator was trying to put “words in my mouth” and added, “you’re making assumptions on court orders I haven’t seen.” Mullin did not answer Murphy’s next question, which was: “Will you or will not obey court orders?”
Met with Mullin’s resistance, Murphy looked around the room and said, “If you’re a Republican or a Democrat on this Committee, you should be really, really freaked out.”
David Bier, Cato Institute Director of Immigration Studies and The Selz Foundation Chair in Immigration Policy at Cato, responded to the “back-and-forth” conversation as “absolutely insane” as Mullin “defends ICE’s noncompliance with ‘more court orders than some agencies violated in their entire history.’”