DHS Secretary Refuses Again and Again to Say He’ll Follow Court Orders
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin had a troubling exchange with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy in which he refused to commit to following all court orders on immigration.“‘ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.’ That’s not a Democratic-appointed judge, that is a Republican-appointed judge describing the scale of illegality,” Murphy said in a Senate Appropriations hearing on Tuesday afternoon. “You always struck me as somebody who cared about the rule of law, and so maybe the easiest question is this: When DHS gets a court order telling them that something they are doing is either illegal and unconstitutional … can you commit to us that if a court judges something ICE is doing, something DHS is doing as illegal, unconstitutional, [or] tells you to stop, that you will comply with the court order?”Mullin refused to give a yes-or-no answer, dodging the question at least four times. CHRIS MURPHY: Can you commit to us that if a court judges something ICE or DHS is doing as illegal or unconstitutional and tells you to stop, that you will comply with the court order?MARKWAYNE MULLIN: We will never break the Constitution and we're not going to break the law,… pic.twitter.com/PESeUu577W— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 2, 2026Mullin: Ranking member Murphy, I will tell you that we will never break the Constitution, and we’re not going to break the law, but we’re going to enforce our nation’s laws. And we’re gonna enforce the laws that you guys passed and that we implement. We will never go outside that, and if we do, we’ll hold each other accountable for that.Murphy: But that doesn’t sound like the same thing as committing that you will obey a court order. Obviously, the entire structure of the federal government gives the power to the courts to divine whether you are obeying the law or not. I think it’s an easy thing to say—will you, will you not implement court orders?Mullin: If we didn’t think 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.Murphy: So you’ll pick and choose which court orders you obey based upon whether—Mullin: Don’t put words in my mouth.Murphy: Then what are you saying, then?Mullin: What I’m saying is, we’ll enforce the law, and we’re never going to break the Constitution.Murphy: You just said that you will not follow every court order, because—Mullin: Chris, senator, don’t start putting words in my mouth. That’s not what I said. I said I will never break the Constitution.Murphy: Will you implement court orders when they tell you to stop?Mullin: You’re making an assumption on court orders I haven’t seen.Murphy: Will you or will you not?Mullin: I’m going to enforce the law, and I’ll never break the Constitution.
