A congressional hearing on the administration's child separation policy for undocumented migrants devolved into a heated exchange Thursday between Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro. The confrontation, which involved accusations of hypocrisy and finger-pointing, prompted Republican Committee Chair Mark Amodei to intervene multiple times to restore order.
The dispute began when Mullin accused DeLauro of being a "hypocrite" for her stance on child separations under the Trump administration, asserting she had remained silent about missing minors during President Biden's term. "Don't you point your finger at me. Don't be a hypocrite," Mullin stated. "Don't you be a hypocrite then. You should be as upset about the 450,000 kids that were lost. You didn't say a word about it! For four years you never said a word!"
DeLauro, who had been questioning Mullin, reportedly screamed, "Don't interrupt me!" while pointing her finger at the secretary. Amodei stepped in to remind Mullin that the floor belonged to DeLauro for her allotted time. "Mr. Secretary, if you would like four minutes for a closing statement when everybody's done, I'll give you that. But while members are on their eight minutes, I need them to have their eight minutes," Amodei said.
Mullin initially resisted complying, leading Amodei to reiterate his authority as chairman. "Mr. Secretary, the floor is hers. Actually, I gave it to her. You know, there is a chairman of a committee. That's me. I gave it back to her," Amodei stated, emphasizing that the hearing was his and he intended to moderate it.
The secretary continued to interject, prompting another intervention from Amodei. "We are going to have something resembling order here," Amodei warned. "The time is the ranking member’s. If you would like to respond later on there are methods to do that but it’s not a who can talk louder into the microphone." Mullin retorted that he would not allow DeLauro to "lie and accuse me of something that’s ridiculous.” Amodei cautioned that the proceedings were meant to be a legislative hearing, not a debate show. He had earlier threatened to postpone the hearing if interruptions persisted.
Mullin, appointed as Trump's second Homeland Security Secretary in March, has previously claimed that approximately 450,000 minors went missing after crossing the southern border alone during the Biden administration. Homeland Security reported earlier this month that it had located 146,000 of those minors.