Acting Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin traveled to Arizona’s southern border Thursday, highlighting what he described as a central achievement of President Trump’s immigration agenda: no migrants apprehended while attempting to enter the United States illegally had been released during the administration’s first 17 months.
Mullin inspected an undisclosed section of the border where a long-promised segment of Trump’s border wall was recently completed. He said the area had once been a major crossing point, with hundreds of thousands of migrants entering the country undetected during former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Under the Biden administration, there was no national security — because you can’t have national security if you don’t know who’s inside the country,” Mullin told The California Post.
“A secure border, and knowing who’s entering your country, is where you can start actually saying we have national security,” he added.
Mullin estimated that between 500,000 and 1 million migrants were apprehended and released in that section of Arizona during the Biden years. He acknowledged, however, that the true total may never be established because he said records from the prior administration were incomplete.
By contrast, Mullin claimed, the number of migrants apprehended and released at the same location has fallen to zero since Trump returned to office.
The acting DHS secretary also said federal agents have detained 2,268 people identified as terrorists after they illegally entered the country since Trump’s return to the White House. He pointed to that figure as evidence that the administration’s immigration enforcement policies are improving public safety.
“American people deserve to be safe in their cities, in their towns, on their streets, in their neighborhoods, at their schools, while they’re shopping,” Mullin said. “And every single murder that takes place at the hands of an illegal is 100% preventable.”
RELATED: Katie Price’s Ex Tells Trial He Found Cocaine at Mucky Mansion
Still, the administration’s border security push faces delays. Trump’s signature wall project could now take until the end of 2027 to complete, well beyond earlier projections.
Mullin had previously forecast that the initial wall construction would be finished by June of next year. He blamed lawsuits filed by environmental organizations and Trump’s political opponents, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, for disrupting the work.
According to Mullin, the litigation has complicated the government’s efforts to secure access to privately or otherwise restricted land along the border. He said that simply providing the project with more money would not necessarily lead to faster construction.
“National security should be first. We want to be good stewards of the land too,” Mullin said. “But because we have these activist judges, because we have areas like that, it’s slowing down our ability to gain access to some of this land.”
Mullin also criticized sanctuary policies in states such as California and New York, where local agencies face limits on how closely they can cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
He argued that those restrictions are hindering the Trump administration’s deportation and immigration enforcement efforts, even as local leaders and immigrant-rights advocates defend them.
“I get that some people may not like immigration enforcement, but the truth is, we’re a nation of laws,” Mullin said.
“The sanctuary cities and sanctuary states do nothing to help people’s lives out,” he added. “They actually cause more problems and take freedom away from American citizens who are trying to live their lives.”