President Donald Trump moved quickly this week to reassert control over his administration’s immigration enforcement strategy after Homeland Security officials temporarily paused most ICE vehicle stops without first receiving White House approval.
The episode has fueled new questions about Trump’s working relationship with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who has led the department for only four months.
Mullin and acting ICE Director Dave Venturella ordered the temporary pause following fatal shootings involving immigration agents in Houston, Texas, and Biddeford, Maine.
The two officials made the decision before briefing Trump, and news of the change began leaking before the president could be informed, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump overturned the pause within roughly a day, arguing that vehicle stops remain essential to his deportation campaign.
“We CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president urged agents to be “judicious, fair and smart” while continuing to conduct the stops.
Border czar Tom Homan subsequently said ICE would review the recent shootings and determine whether officers needed additional training. He also announced that agents conducting vehicle stops would be required to record the encounter with at least one body camera.
Although the White House publicly maintained that Trump and Mullin were aligned, NBC News reported that the dispute was one of several incidents creating “growing tensions” between Mullin and administration officials.
“Every Cabinet secretary knows that they have to come to the White House for major policy decisions,” a senior administration official told the outlet. “The president sees, hears, reads everything.”
Mullin reportedly caused additional frustration during a recent CNN appearance discussing the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the administration to end Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from Haiti and Syria.
The secretary suggested that hundreds of thousands of affected immigrants could apply for another legal status, but they would not automatically qualify to do so under the ruling. NBC News reported that the misstatement “annoyed” some administration officials.
The Supreme Court ruled June 25 that lower courts could not continue delaying the administration’s termination of the two countries’ TPS designations while legal challenges proceeded.
Another potential pressure point involves Richard “Lance” Schroyer, Trump’s nominee to lead ICE.
Schroyer is a former Marine and Oklahoma Highway Patrol veteran whom Mullin has described as a “good friend.” Mullin brought Schroyer into DHS as an adviser before Trump nominated him for the ICE position in June.
Trump called Schroyer a “proven leader” with decades of law enforcement experience, while Mullin urged the Senate to confirm him quickly.
However, some administration officials have privately questioned whether Schroyer has enough federal management experience to oversee the agency at the center of Trump’s deportation program. Homan reportedly objected to the selection, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“Homan and others aren’t particularly thrilled with him,” a senior administration official told NBC News.
The White House pushed back against the suggestion that the disagreements represent a broader split.
“Secretary Mullin is working hard to implement the President’s immigration enforcement agenda,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Mullin, the border is totally secure, dangerous illegal immigrants are being deported, and Americans are safer.”
“Secretary Mullin will continue to enforce federal immigration law as effectively as possible,” she added.
The immediate policy dispute has been resolved: ICE vehicle stops will continue, with additional scrutiny surrounding training and body-camera use.
The next test will be whether Mullin can keep the sprawling department aligned with Trump’s priorities — and whether Schroyer’s nomination advances despite reported concerns from influential figures inside the administration.
