ICE just set its third consecutive monthly arrest record in agency history.
Pramila Jayapal told Congress that ICE is arresting people who pose no threat.
What Markwayne Mullin said to Pramila Jayapal’s face about that claim is something Democrats do not want getting around.
Three Straight Record Months Democrats Don't Want You Talking About
Nearly 51,000 illegal immigrants were taken into custody by ICE in August alone – the third consecutive all-time monthly record.
June was a record.
July broke June.
August broke July.
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Jayapal stood in front of a congressional hearing and told America that "the majority of people" ICE arrested pose "absolutely no threat to public safety."
She said the number of criminals arrested by ICE actually decreased.
Mullin had one answer for that: "It's political for them."
He's right.
And here's why.
DHS says nearly 70% of ICE arrests involve illegal immigrants charged with or convicted of a crime in the U.S.
Since Trump took office, ICE has arrested more than 2,150 known or suspected terrorists – and deported 2,015 of them.
Two thousand terrorists deported while Jayapal holds hearings about traffic stops.
"If we're going to have national security in this country, we [need to] know everybody that's entered this country,” Mullin said. “And so, I'm not going to release you back into the public once we know that you entered this country illegally," Mullin continued. "It's time for you to go home."
What Jayapal Left Out of Her Testimony
Jayapal is the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
That means she's supposed to oversee the same agency she's calling a danger to communities.
She called ICE a "terrorist force" earlier this year.
She said agents were "kidnapping and disappearing" people off the street.
She's been doing this for years.
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She got arrested protesting ICE back in Trump's first term.
Now she's arguing that illegal immigrants who kill Americans in car accidents aren't really criminals.
Mullin didn't let that slide.
He told her directly: when you enter this country illegally and then kill somebody in a car accident, you are a criminal – and you have ruined someone else's life forever.
"When you have a car accident, and you came… into this country legally, and the Democrats want to say, you're not a criminal and you kill somebody. Yes, you were a criminal and now… you ruined somebody else's life, and now you're a murderer at the same time," the DHS chief said.
He reminded her of the angel families – the parents and spouses and children left behind by people killed by illegal immigrants.
"All the angel families that lost their loved ones at the hands of an illegal is 100% preventable," Mullin said, "because that illegal shouldn't be in our country to begin with."
Jayapal's office didn't respond when Fox News asked for comment.
Three Million Gone While Jayapal Held Hearings
Jayapal's argument isn't new.
Democrats have been running the same play for years – flood the zone with sympathy for illegal immigrants, call enforcement officers the real criminals, and dare Republicans to fight back.
What's new is the scoreboard.
ICE averaged 1,600 arrests per day in August. Before Trump's enforcement mandate, they were hitting 1,000 a day.
Roughly one million illegal immigrants have been removed since Trump took office.
Another two million have self-deported – packed up and left rather than wait for ICE to come knocking.
That's three million people who should not have been in this country, gone.
Jayapal can hold all the shadow hearings she wants.
She can call ICE agents terrorists and kidnappers.
The numbers don't care about her feelings.
And neither does Markwayne Mullin.
Sources:
- Nora Moriarty, "DHS chief fires back at Jayapal over claim majority of immigration arrests pose 'no threat'," Fox News, September 20, 2026.
- Stepheny Price and Bill Melugin, "Trump administration's immigration push fuels ICE's biggest arrest month in agency history," Fox News, August 3, 2026.
- Miles Jamison, "ICE Surpasses Record Monthly Arrests in August," Executive Gov, September 3, 2026.
- "Exclusive: 25 years after 9/11, ICE says more than 2K known or suspected terrorists have been deported," Fox News, September 2026.
- "Secretary Mullin says 2026 deportations will surpass 2025 numbers," Breitbart/TNND, 2026.
