‘He Was a Thug!’ Trump’s DHS Boss and CNN’s Jake Tapper Grapple Over ICE ‘Tactics’ Used in Shooting

Does ICE need to change its undercover “tactics?”

That’s what CNN star Jake Tapper wanted to know when he interviewed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin on State of the Union on Sunday morning, three days after a man Oscar Belgal — who immigrated illegally to the U.S. — was shot in New York City while trying to evade agents. Belgal — who was previously convicted of grand larceny and had “multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs, and weapons possession,” according to DHS — had his 5-year-old son in the backseat of the car when he was shot by ICE, which led to Tapper asking if the agency needs to change how it apprehends people.

“Do you see how for anyone, a bunch of men not clearly identified as with the government, as with ICE, banging on windows with a gun, might cause anyone to flee,” Tapper said. “And I wonder, would it not be safer for the officers if they were clearly identified as with ICE?”

Mullin told him he didn’t “understand” all of the context before the Thursday arrest, which included Belgal escaping arrest a month prior. “He understood that he was a wanted man,” Mullin said.

He then read off a lengthy list of crimes Belgal has been convicted of or accused of since entering the U.S. illegally.

Mullin continued:

He knew exactly who we were. He decided to flee once again, like he had done before. And so when someone tries to flee from us, they’re making their decisions at that time.

The truth is, this guy was an awful human being. He was a thug, he was a gangbanger, and he had only been in the country for three years and he had this long of a rap sheet and had been released multiple times by New York state. At the same time, he was on probation. So you couldn’t have got a worst of the worst thug than Oscar is.

He then asked, “Why is the media so outraged by this? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Mullin’s question comes after Belgal’s shooting and apprehension has received a fair amount of media coverage. It has also been denounced by several left-wing politicians, like NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D), who said it proved ICE was “rotten to the core.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) similarly called ICE a “rogue, lawless and paramilitary surveillance agency” that needs to be abolished.

After Mullin’s long answer, Tapper pressed him again on how ICE went about the arrest.

“Yeah, so I’m just asking about the tactics,” Tapper said. I’m not defending the character of any of these gentlemen, because obviously one of the reasons this has got so much attention is that Oscar Belgal’s 5-year-old son was in the back of the car. Now you have said the agents were aware there was this child in the backseat of the car. But I wonder also about, in terms of tactics, shouldn’t agents be checking for things like that before they fire into the vehicle?”

Mullin said the agents were not aware there was a kid in the car, but there was a man who did know it: Belgal.

“He chose to accelerate at a rate of speed, hit the vehicle in front, flare off and accelerate towards officers and towards another vehicle. He was a selfish individual,” Mullin said. “Why would you ever put your child into a situation like that?”

Mullin added there is nothing special about how ICE has undercover agents making plainclothes arrests.

“The tactics that are used are the same tactics that are used by law enforcement from coast-to-coast, from local, city, state, to federal,” Mullin said.

Watch above.

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