DHS Boss Goes Off on Reporter Asking About ICE ‘Ramping Up’ Enforcement: ‘What I Hate About Fake News!’

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin went off on a reporter asking about ICE reportedly “ramping up” their daily arrests going into the midterm elections.

Mullin held a news conference Friday to address the latest ICE shooting, in which 28-year-old Oscar Belgal was shot in his car in New York City while his five-year-old child was in the vehicle. DHS claimed Belgal had a history of run-ins with the police and did not follow lawful orders given to him.

Mullin blasted New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) over their condemnations of the shooting.

He ranted after a reporter began to ask a question about a “ramp up” in ICE arrests, referring to a CNN report, citing two people familiar with the situation, stating that ICE agents were told to increase daily arrests by 1,000. DHS has long denied agents having quotas for arrests.

Mullin denied there being any “ramp up” in arrests:

Why do you say ramp up the pace? We do our job everyday. That’s a narrative. I’m going to push back on this real quick. That’s a narrative, that you guys have said we’re ramping up up to the midterm elections.

We’re not ramping up anything. We’re doing our job everyday. That’s all we do.

This whole narrative that says we’re ramping up, where’d that come from? Was there an email you guys read? There wasn’t.

I think it was last week you guys were accusing us of saying that we’re dialing down enforcement in certain areas. I’m going, no, we’re not.

We’re consistently doing our jobs everyday. We pursue the worst of the worst, regardless if it’s Sunday, regardless if it’s Monday, regardless if it’s Christmas, regardless if it’s Thanksgiving, regardless if it’s on a Saturday.

We are pursuing the worst of the worst every day. There is no ramp up. There is no drawdown. We’re doing our job.

The reporter then tried changing the wording of his question, dropping the “ramp up” part.

“As deportations continue, are you going to continue using the planes that were purchased during the prior DHS administration and are you —” the reporter began as Mullin jumped back in.

“I have no idea what that has to do with the worst of the worst,” the DHS head said.

“I imagine you’d be deporting —” the reporter began again as Mullin flat-out refused the question and ranted against “fake news:”

All you’re doing here is you’re trying to take this to someplace else because you know we arrested the worst of the worst last night and you’re trying to bring up something controversial.

This is what I hate about fake news. When we do a press conference on something, you guys want to completely steer away when you realize this is not someone you should be defending and you bring up something as ridiculous as that.

I’m just saying, I’m not even going to entertain your question because that’s not what we’re here for. If you want to ask something that is pertaining to this press conference, I’m happy to do that. I’ll take this last question because that wasn’t even a question.

Watch above via Fox News.

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