2027 Capital Projects Committee, Meeting 2: June 22, 2026

When former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as President Donald Trump's new Secretary of Homeland Security, he stated that his key goal was that "we’re not in the lead story every single day.”

According to Jonathan Derbyshire of the Financial Times, he has failed utterly in this goal, as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings have continued to generate public outrage, and DHS has continued to skirt all accountability for it.

Multiple ICE agents were involved in shooting deaths in the past few weeks in Texas and Maine. Shortly after, "ICE suspended vehicle stops in the wake of the shootings," with border czar Tom Homan calling it a "short pause just to make sure we're doing the right thing" — only for Trump to decree the pause over hours later on Truth Social.

Part of the issue for Mullin, said the report, is that he has done little to change the toxic hiring culture at the agency that is setting ICE up for abuses of power. "In January, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it had hired more than 12,000 officers and agents in less than a year and that it had received 'more than 220,000 applications to join ICE from patriotic Americans'" noted the report — but an Associated Press investigation suggests "many of those applying, and indeed a significant number of those who ended up getting hired, were unsuitable for the job."

Ultimately, Derbyshire continued, Mullin could end up falling from favor just as his predecessor Kristi Noem did — and the president's move to countermand the ICE traffic stop pause could be the first signs of it.

"Mullin would do well to remember that in this White House, presidential loyalty and support is a scarce and finite resource," he concluded.

Maine residents told CNN they were outraged on Tuesday after ICE agents fatally shot a 26-year-old father in a car.

Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero, who was authorized to work in the United States, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday. Community members were upset by the fatal shooting and showed support for Guerrero and his family, said CNN correspondent Jason Carroll.

"You always knew it was a possibility here because there's been a heavy presence since January, and especially in this area in Biddeford. And when you hear about this, it's just surreal," one resident told CNN.

"This could be happening to any one of us, any one of us. He's a 26-year-old with a child. He has a legitimate reason for being here. He had social security. It's horrific," another local told CNN.

The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General will be leading the investigation into the fatal shooting, along with the FBI and Maine Attorney General's Office, Carroll reported.

"Those whom we have told about who will be heading up the investigation still have a great deal of distrust against the federal government, given all that has happened," he added. "They have a lot of questions that they're hoping will be answered in this investigation, namely, why was there the use of deadly force? That's for a second. Why were the officers not using body-worn cameras? And why was this man targeted?"