Staff Reports
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin sat down on Hannity this week and made a bold claim: after cleaning up messy records left behind by the previous administration, DHS is finally “hitting a stride” and can now find and remove the worst criminals who slipped into the country. It’s a clear shot across the bow at past policies — and a welcome one if you care about law and order. But bold claims need receipts, and the public deserves the facts behind the statistics.
Mullin’s Hannity appearance: the claims
On air, Secretary Mullin said DHS inherited inaccurate parole and entry files and that his team has been “scrubbing” databases and public records. He told viewers that initial checks found only about 5% of entries were accurate, but after the cleanup his teams now have better than a 90% chance of finding a person at the listed location when serving a warrant. He also blamed the previous administration for massive parole inflows, citing figures as high as 150,000 to 200,000 in some weeks. Those sound like game-changing operational improvements — and if true, they explain why enforcement actions are suddenly more effective.
What’s backed up — and what still needs proof
No one is denying Mullin made the statements; the interview was broadcast and the soundbites are public. It’s also incontestable that DHS used parole authorities heavily in recent years and that record quality and data-matching have long been a headache for enforcement agencies. What hasn’t been produced publicly are the internal metrics that prove the 5% and 90% figures or the week-by-week entrant numbers Mullin recited. Journalists and Congress should request the underlying EID reports, after-action memos, or briefing slides so taxpayers can judge results and not just rhetoric.
Why this matters for Americans and for policy
If DHS really has improved its targeting and is rounding up the “worst of the worst,” that’s a win for communities tired of crime and chaos tied to illegal immigration. Better data means faster arrests, fewer wasted resources, and fewer stories of violent repeat offenders slipping through the cracks. At the same time, critics will howl — and rightly so if civil rights or due process aren’t respected. The solution is simple: do the enforcement transparently, follow the law, and let oversight committees verify the numbers Mullin put on TV.
Bottom line: Secretary Mullin is selling a tough, no-nonsense immigration posture, and many Americans will like the sound of it. Still, swagger without spreadsheets won’t satisfy skeptics or lawmakers. If the Biden-era data mess was as bad as Mullin says, DHS should publish the proof, show the clean-up work, and let results speak louder than cable-TV soundbites. Until then, conservative voters should cheer the intent but demand the receipts — because winning the border fight starts with competence, not just bravado.
