![U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security testifies before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Homeland Security in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on June 02, 2026 in Washington, DC. The hearing was held to examine the Department of Homeland Security's budget request for fiscal year 2027. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images), [Inset] Elizabeth Conley/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/141503612/81ab7dcfa7c9c2e7358110e75e245b94258633c6d22466ffa4fcd180035bbd2e)
Overview
- During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Democratic Rep. Al Green interrupted DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and repeatedly told him to “shut up” after Mullin asked whether Green had called him a racist.
- Committee chair Rep. Andrew Garbarino suspended the clock and ordered an end to personal attacks, saying there would be no addressing anyone’s character in a negative way.
- Mullin interrupted to insist he would not be called a racist, cited his Cherokee heritage, and later taunted Green by noting Green’s recent primary defeat to Rep. Christian Menefee.
- Green later issued a correction saying the photo he referenced depicted Elizabeth Eckford of the Little Rock Nine, not Ruby Bridges, while video of the confrontation went viral and was widely reposted by conservative accounts.
- The clash follows a prior State of the Union incident in which Green displayed a protest sign and Mullin (then a senator) grabbed it, and the episode highlights how oversight hearings can quickly become focal points for partisan messaging and social media reaction.