Fact-check: What Markwayne Mullin said about Rand Paul, Alex Pretti at DHS confirmation hearing

During his confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., defended his past comments calling Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a "freaking snake."

Paul asked Mullin during the March 18 hearing to "explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and border agents." 

Members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs asked Mullin about his immigration enforcement stance. The  Senate is expected to vote March 19 on whether Mullin should replace Kristi Noem, who President Donald Trump fired from the post. 

The leadership change is happening more than a month into a partial Homeland Security shutdown because of a funding impasse in Congress over ICE agents’ tactics. 

Although Mullin and Paul’s back-and-forth was tense, Mullin was cordial during most of the lawmakers’ questioning. When Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., raised concerns about ICE purchasing a warehouse in New Jersey, Mullin said, if confirmed, he would make a trip to the warehouse "because it's a big concern of yours, and we want to address those concerns."

Mullin, a businessman, has served as a senator since 2023 after a decade in the House. He has never served the military, so he drew recent criticism when he told Fox News that war "smells bad, and if anybody’s ever been there, and been able to smell the war that’s happened around you and taste it and feel it in your nostrils and hear it, it’s something that you’ll never forget and it’s ugly." He later said he had done "special assignments" outside of the Defense Department but had not worn the uniform. In 2021, he took a trip in an effort to assist stranded Americans in Afghanistan.

His travel came under questioning several times during the hearing.

Mullin told senators he trained for an official trip in 2016, but said he couldn’t divulge details because they were classified. Mullin offered to speak more candidly with senators in a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, a secure room where classified information can be shared with certain officials. The senators went into a SCIF after the public hearing.

Here are some highlights and fact-checks from the hearing. 

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Mullin said he spoke too soon in his comments about Alex Pretti

A day after federal immigration agents in January fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Mullin told Fox News that Pretti was "a deranged individual that came in to cause massive damage with a loaded pistol." 

During his confirmation hearing, Mullin told senators, "Those words probably should have been retracted. I shouldn't have said that." Mullin said the investigation is ongoing and he spoke too fast. "I was responding immediately without the facts. That's my fault."

Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse, had a concealed carry permit. Video analysis did not show him approaching law enforcement with a handgun.

Mullin: The Trump administration has "recovered over 160,000 kids that were trafficked or lost during the Biden administration," and at one point the lost children numbered 385,000.

This distorts federal data.

A 2024 Department of Homeland Security report looked at data spanning both the Trump and Biden administrations, from fiscal years 2019 to 2023. It found ICE could not monitor all unaccompanied minors released from the agency’s custody.

The report said:

• ICE transferred 448,000 unaccompanied minors to Department of Health and Human Services custody.

• ICE did not serve 291,000 unaccompanied minors with a Notice to Appear, a charging document with instructions to appear in immigration court. 

• More than 32,000 unaccompanied minors failed to appear for their immigration court hearings.

The report didn’t describe the children as missing or "lost."

DHS told PolitiFact in February that the administration had located more than 145,000 children through "visits and door knocks."

Immigration experts have told PolitiFact describing the children as missing in the first place is misleading.

Paul and Mullin sparred over "freaking snake" comment 

Paul began the hearing by describing in detail a 2017 incident in which a neighbor assaulted him, leaving him with broken ribs and requiring part of his lung to be removed. 

An Oklahoma journalist reported that during a February event with constituents in Oklahoma, Mullin called Paul a "freaking snake," adding, "I understand completely why his neighbor did what he did. And I told him that to his face." 

During the hearing, Paul repeatedly pressed Mullin for an apology. Mullin did not apologize, although he said he did not know the extent of Paul’s injuries.

Of the neighbor’s attack on Paul, Mullin said, "I did not say I supported it. I said I understood it. There's a difference."

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.: "ICE is right now funded with more money than it's had in past budgets, and the partial shutdown that we have right now has nothing to do with ICE."

This needs context.

ICE is funded. Trump’s 2025 signature law, One Big Beautiful Bill, included about $75 billion for the agency over four years, including $45 billion for new immigration detention beds and $30 billion to hire 10,000 ICE employees, upgrade facilities and more.

But the Homeland Security shutdown that began Feb. 13 is linked to ICE. Democrats proposed several measures to rein in ICE agents, including requiring them to wear ID and no masks, prohibiting enforcement at schools and churches and expanding training. Republicans rejected that plan, although the White House has proposed some related changes.

In later remarks, Hassan clarified her comment.

"ICE already has significant funding right now," from the 2025 bill, Hassan said. The shutdown is about "the need for policy reforms."

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.: The number of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally at the southwest border is down 96%. 

Lankford didn’t specify what data he was referencing, but illegal immigration at the U.S. southern border has dropped significantly under Trump’s second term.

In fiscal year 2024, Biden’s final year in office, Border Patrol agents encountered immigrants trying to illegally enter the U.S. 1.5 million times. In fiscal year 2025, which ended in September, Border Patrol had 254,000 encounters. That’s an 83% drop.

There was a 96% drop in Border Patrol encounters from December 2024, which was Biden’s last full month in office, to December 2025.

Video clip showed Mullin and Teamsters president nearly starting a fist fight

Paul aired a clip during the hearing that showed Mullin, a former professional mixed martial arts fighter, nearly coming to blows with Teamsters President Sean O'Brien during a 2023 Senate committee hearing.

In the footage, Mullin pointed to O’Brien's tweet calling him a "greedy CEO" and a "clown & fraud" and Mullin said, "We can finish it here."

Mullin: "You want to do it now?"

O'Brien: "I'd love to do it right now."

Mullin: "Well, stand your butt up then."

O'Brien: "You stand your butt up."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the committee at the time, told Mullin to sit down. No fight occurred.

During the Senate confirmation hearing, O’Brien was seated behind Mullin. The two are now friends, Mullin said.

O'Brien said earlier this month "If anyone is willing to stand their butt up to protect America, it’s Markwayne Mullin."

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