{"id":942,"date":"2026-07-13T11:10:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=942"},"modified":"2026-07-13T11:10:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:10:44","slug":"new-ice-boss-same-old-lies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=942","title":{"rendered":"New ICE boss, same old lies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Kristi Noem was pushed out of her job as the secretary of homeland security and replaced with Oklahoma\u2019s GOP senator \u2014 and wannabe MMA fighter \u2014 Markwayne Mullin, the public was assured he would make all those pesky problems with Immigration and Customs Enforcement go away.<\/p>\n

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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., described the concentration camp-style immigrant detention centers and the killings of two American citizens during immigration raids as \u201ca little hiccup\u201d and promised a \u201ccourse correction\u201d under Mullin. The New York Times heralded Mullin\u2019s \u201cwarmer and fuzzier tone\u201d during his confirmation hearing as a \u201csign that the administration wants to project a more moderated approach.\u201d Various Republican leaders praised Mullin as a \u201cgood guy\u201d who \u201clikes dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n

But savvy people weren\u2019t fooled. This is still Donald Trump\u2019s presidency, an administration that is at least partially being run by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a man so paranoid about foreigners he floated the idea of banning pregnant women from even visiting the U.S., lest they give birth here. (His wife, podcaster Katie Miller, followed up by suggesting mandatory pregnancy tests of anyone suspected of being female coming through customs.)<\/p>\n

The public-facing faux-moderation that came with Mullin\u2019s confirmation \u2014 along with the war in Iran \u2014 did push ICE out of the national headlines, even while maintaining Trump and Miller\u2019s mass deportations.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, though, a fatal shooting in Houston served as a grave reminder that nothing has changed substantively at the Department of Homeland Security, much less at ICE. The biggest difference between Mullin and Noem is that he\u2019s male and she\u2019s female, though both are bizarrely committed to cartoonish performances of their gender, with him pretending he\u2019s going to fight people on Capitol Hill and her apparent cosmetic transformations.<\/p>\n

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ICE remains what Noem always wanted it to be: a rogue organization staffed by people who are too sadistic or unqualified to meet already too-low standards for regular police work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Mullin was never intended to be more than a surface change, meant to deflect attention from Trump and Miller\u2019s attempt at ethnic cleansing through deporting and harassing immigrants. ICE remains what Noem always wanted it to be: a rogue organization staffed by people who are too sadistic or unqualified to meet already too-low standards for regular police work.<\/p>\n

The details of the shooting are awful. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was driving to work in Houston when ICE agents, reportedly chasing someone else entirely, allegedly boxed in his car and him through the stomach. The officers weren\u2019t wearing body cameras. According to the New Republic\u2019s Greg Sargent, witnesses to the killing have allegedly been pressured to self-deport before they can testify. The official DHS response is the same dubious claim, issued in standard boilerplate, the agency always relies on in these cases: accusing the victim of threatening to run over ICE agents with his car.<\/p>\n