DHS’s Mullin takes swipe at Florida Republican’s mass deportation concerns: ‘Every one of them was a criminal’

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin on Friday brushed aside criticisms by a fellow Republican who said President Donald Trump's immigration agenda was overly aggressive.

"A political campaign [ad] is a political campaign ad. I completely understand it. But that's not going to keep us, the men and women at the Department of Homeland Security, from doing our job," Mullin said on CNN's "Inside Politics with Dana Bush."

The secretary was responding to a campaign ad by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) that offered a rare rebuke of the White House's deportation blitz from inside the Republican Party. In the ad, the Trump-endorsed incumbent in a red-leaning district near Miami warned that some of the president's immigration policies "have gone too far."

"Be careful what your advisers are telling you about immigration policy," Salazar said in the ad . "The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today."

Salazar also claimed, citing DHS data, that many of the immigrants detained have no criminal record.

"I'll say that's actually not true. Every one of them was a criminal because they broke our nation's laws when they came across our borders illegally," Mullin said in his cable news appearance. "What level of criminal activity are you willing to accept?"

The secretary also downplayed concerns raised by Salazar and others in the party: that Trump's immigration crackdown could cost Republicans the support among Hispanic voters they gained two years ago.

"Those individuals that voted for the president, they did it the right way. They came into this country the right way. They became United States citizens, and that's why they're able to vote in the election," Mullin said. "We're not coming after you. We're coming after those that chose not to do it the right way."