WASHINGTON – Today, during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) pressed President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), on DHS’s diversion of federal law enforcement agents to chase conspiracy theories, Stephen Miller’s influence, and failure to consult tribal communities in DHS decisions.  

Watch Senator Gallego’s questioning HERE and read excerpts below:

Senator Gallego began by raising alarming reports that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents are investigating the 2020 election results in Arizona, which Senator Mullin has previously cast doubt on. HSI is the agency that focuses on investigating drug trafficking, human smuggling, and child abuse. Diverting them to investigate debunked conspiracy theories makes Americans less safe because it means less time spent keeping actual criminals off the streets.

“HSI is specifically very important because they specialize in dealing with human trafficking, human smuggling, counterfeit, bank fraud, things of that nature,” said Senator Gallego. “The reason I bring this up is because there’s confirmed reports that the Secretary of Homeland Security has ordered HSI agents, pulled them off what I just told you were very important missions to go to Arizona and investigate the 2020 election results. That is a very big concern of mine because these agents should be doing the work they are doing.”

“Do you believe Joe Biden won Arizona in the 2020 presidential election? I ask because you’re potentially deploying HSI agents to Arizona to check the result, using our taxpayer dollars to follow up on a conspiracy theory,” Senator Gallego continued. “No one in the Department of Homeland Security should be used to investigate an election conspiracy.”

Senator Mullin did not answer the question, instead saying “Nor am I here to debate what happened in 2020.”

Gallego also raised concerns about the lack of a clear chain of command within DHS, with agents unsure if their orders were coming from former Secretary Kristi Noem or Trump advisor Stephen Miller.

“Something I saw with the previous Secretary, and something I’ve seen in my time in the Marines, is that the chain of command is very important. I don’t believe there was a real chain of command that was in the [Department] of Homeland Security. When I say that it’s because I think Stephen Miller personally was calling the shots there. And you can see the results of what actually occurred,” Senator Gallego continued. “I want to make sure if you are there, you are in charge, and not Stephen Miller.”

Finally, Gallego pressed Mullin on the administration’s failure to consult tribal communities before building border security infrastructure on their land.

“One concern I have, when it comes to building some of these installations on the border, there has been very little to no tribal consultation, especially with some of our border tribes in the Tohono O’odham Nation, where […] there is a border wall going through tribal land – sacred land – that is not crossed or used by human smugglers. It is important DHS speak to these communities,” said Senator Gallego. “But this last [DHS] did not talk to them whatsoever. […] I think it is important we reestablish tribal sovereignty.”

Senator Mullin agreed to cooperate with tribes on DHS decisions, saying “I appreciate tribal sovereignty. We do have a job to secure the border, but we will work with tribal nations because there are other ways to have a physical barrier.”