Whiplash over ICE arrests exposes disconnect between Trump and Markwayne Mullin

By Priscilla Alvarez, Kristen Holmes, CNN

(CNN) — When word of an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement leadership call over the weekend leaked to media outlets, some Trump administration officials came to believe the agency planned to limit arrests of undocumented immigrants to those with criminal histories.

The perceived softening of the administration’s hardline stance to deport anyone in the country illegally set off President Donald Trump, who immediately sought to clear the record — telling a well-known correspondent at Fox News in a phone call that ICE would continue to arrest anyone in the country illegally, regardless of criminal history.

Behind the scenes, Trump also directed his anger toward Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, according to a source familiar with the incident and a source close to the White House.

While DHS, which oversees ICE, denies that any such directive was issued, the episode exposed the ongoing disconnect between the White House and the officials charged with carrying out Trump’s mass deportation campaign. And it comes weeks away from the midterm elections, as some Republicans have publicly and privately expressed unease over who the administration is taking into custody.

Immigration remains a key political issue for the White House ahead of the midterm elections, and administration officials have been sensitive to any potential changes in operations that appear to weaken the president’s approach to his mass deportation pledge.

Earlier this summer, Trump was furious over a pause on most vehicle stops conducted by ICE following fatal shootings in Texas and Maine. The decision to pause those stops, which Trump ultimately overturned, immediately received blowback from his political base, who believed it was a sign of the administration going soft on its immigration crackdown.

Mullin has repeatedly said that anyone in the country illegally may be eligible for removal. But the sources told CNN that he privately supports the shift away from what officials call “collateral arrests,” meaning people who may be in the vicinity of an operation or with a person on law enforcement’s radar.

The guidance verbally communicated on the weekend call with some ICE agents appeared to direct them to take a different approach to “collateral arrests” and instead focus on criminals, fueling confusion among the agents, according to three sources briefed on the call.

Mullin, a former GOP US senator from Oklahoma, took the helm of DHS just six months ago when Trump fired his predecessor, Kristi Noem.

While sources insisted there’s no indication that Mullin is at risk of losing his job, that episode reignited concerns among Homeland Security officials and sources close to the White House that Mullin isn’t in lockstep with the president.

“Mullin is definitely out of step with President Trump and the base on immigration,” one of the sources said.

In a statement to CNN, a Homeland Security spokesperson said: “We are all focused on delivering on the President’s mission to deport illegal aliens and are all the same page. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to sow division and create an illusion of chaos.”

The spokesperson maintained that “no one is off the table,” adding that, “anyone in our country illegally will be arrested and deported.”

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement that Mullin “has helped deliver the most secure border in history and shattered ICE arrest records.”

“President Trump and Secretary Mullin will continue to carry out the agenda the American people voted for,” she added.

The administration’s arrest tactics and decision to increasingly arrest undocumented immigrants without criminal records has fueled criticism among some Republicans, most notably Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents a heavily Hispanic district. She broke with the president in a recent campaign ad ahead of the midterms.

In her ad, Salazar pointed to statistics she said show that 50% of the people detained by ICE in July “had no criminal record.”

An uptick in ICE activity in southwest Kansas that drew concerns among the agricultural industry also prompted a response from Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who said in a statement last week that local law enforcement had not been “given advance notice or the level of cooperation we would expect from ICE’s enforcement and removal operations.”

“As a result, there have been mass disruptions to local communities and businesses,” he said, adding that he shared his concerns with DHS.

ICE picked up its immigration arrests over the summer. In August, ICE took around 51,000 people into custody, setting a new monthly high under the Trump administration. The previous high had been set just one month prior when the agency took more than 46,000 people into custody in July.

Since the start of the Trump administration, ICE has been under immense pressure from the White House to arrest hundreds of people daily and over time, cast a wider net of who’s eligible for arrest, beyond those who are public safety or national security threats.

In recent weeks, Mullin, who’s faced backlash from corners of the MAGA base for not being strong enough on immigration enforcement, has forcefully defended the administration’s crackdown, posting photos of deportation flights.

But multiple sources have told CNN that Mullin has had a hard time transitioning to his role. CNN previously reported that Mullin had expressed frustration with working under the close watch of the White House.

“Ultimately, Mullin is no longer a principal — he’s a staffer to the president,” one Trump adviser told CNN. “He’s had a hard time coming to terms with that, like many others before him.”

Mullin also saw his pick for director of ICE Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, abruptly pulled by the White House after his nomination stalled in the Senate. Mullin had chosen Schroyer after his first proposed pick for the role caused friction with some White House officials.

“We still have an acting director there and ICE’s mission doesn’t change. Lance is a very good man,” Mullin said in a Fox interview earlier this month. “The truth is the president gets to pick his team, and I support the president doing this. The White House decided to go a different way.”

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