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21h ago

Mullin Hearing Erupts Over Migrant Children and Detainee Deaths

The June 25 House appropriations session raised fresh questions about DHS oversight and data gaps that could prompt follow-up probes.

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Markwayne Mullin during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security hearing on June 25, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin testifies during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 25, 2026.
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Overview

  • The House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Thursday broke into repeated shouting matches as DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin clashed with Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Lauren Underwood and the chairman repeatedly intervened to restore order.
  • Mullin interrupted DeLauro to say “450,000 kids were lost,” a figure he defended but that multiple oversight reports and fact checks show is a contested interpretation of DHS OIG findings about transfers and tracking of unaccompanied minors.
  • Rep. Lauren Underwood pressed Mullin over a rise in detainee deaths, saying 2025 saw historic highs, and Mullin disputed her numbers while comparing federal detention medical staffing to Illinois state prisons.
  • Chairman Mark Amodei warned he would postpone the hearing if decorum did not return and offered Mullin time to respond later, and the session produced no immediate policy changes or formal resolutions.
  • The clash underscores longer‑running oversight issues: a 2024 DHS OIG audit found ICE transferred about 448,000 unaccompanied children to HHS from 2019–2023 and that agencies could not fully account for many post‑transfer locations, a finding driving renewed calls for clearer tracking and accountability.