Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says his department is re-vetting visa holders and the businesses that sponsor them, and that DHS would accept it if Congress chose to end the H-1B program altogether.
Mullin made the remarks in a wide-ranging interview with conservative commentator Sara Gonzales, recorded during her visit to the White House and published October 1 on her YouTube channel. Gonzales has spent months reporting on alleged H-1B visa fraud in Texas.
In the 16-minute conversation, Mullin also discussed deportation numbers, the government’s assisted self-deportation program, voter fraud investigations and arrests of what he described as known terrorists. All figures below are as stated by Mullin in the interview.
H-1B: re-vetting past approvals
Asked whether DHS intends to examine whether the H-1B visa is still necessary, Mullin said the department is bound by requirements set by Congress. “If Congress chooses to do away with it, we’re okay with it, too,” he said.
In the meantime, Mullin said, DHS is re-vetting H-1B participants, from sponsoring businesses to individual workers. He said an approval last year, or at any point in the last 10 years, is no longer being taken as proof that the information was correct.
Mullin credited USCIS Director Joseph Edlow with leading the review and said it has weeded out “a tremendous amount of fraud.” He said the effort extends to other visa programs, not just H-1B, and blamed the Biden administration for what he called rubber-stamping applications.
The interview included clips from Gonzales’s own investigations, including visits to Texas addresses listed by H-1B sponsors and confrontations with business owners she accused of visa fraud and unpaid wages.
Deportations and assisted self-deportation
Responding to supporters who feel mass deportations are moving too slowly, Mullin said deportations this year are already more than double last year’s, and arrests are also more than double. “They’re not slowing down,” he said.
Mullin described how the assisted self-deportation program works. He said detainees are given an iPad with an option to leave voluntarily instead of going through immigration court. Those who choose it receive a $3,000 check and a plane ticket home.
According to Mullin, people who leave this way remain eligible to return legally later. Those deported through the court system are barred for 10 years. He said more than 90% of self-deportations involve people DHS had already apprehended, rejecting the idea that the program inflates the numbers.
Mullin said DHS deports thousands of people every day and that he planned to be in Louisiana for three deportation flights.
Voter fraud investigations
Mullin called voter fraud a “huge situation” and said DHS is working with the Justice Department on cases going back five years. He gave these figures:
- More than 100 arrests
- 10 convictions
- 1,600 open cases under investigation
- 300,000 leads being followed
He said many of these cases also lead to findings of immigration abuse. Mullin added that not every tip DHS receives leads to an arrest, but encouraged the public to keep sending them.
Terrorist arrests
Mullin said he received an update on his way to the interview showing DHS has now arrested more than 2,200 known terrorists inside the United States since President Trump took office. Two weeks earlier, he said, the figure was about 2,150.
He described them as people who entered the country illegally or were released under false names. Mullin tied the arrests to the department’s broader re-vetting effort, saying, “We’re going after you every day.”
Border security and the migrant caravan
Gonzales congratulated Mullin on a DHS announcement of 16 straight months of zero border releases. Mullin said the result came without new legislation from Congress. “We just needed a new president to say, ‘Hey, law enforcement, go do your job,'” he said.
He said pressure on the southern border has led to more activity on the northern border. Because of new border wall construction, Mullin said, DHS has been able to shift officers north, and he described both borders as more secure than at any point in the country’s history.
On a migrant caravan reportedly made up largely of Hondurans, Mullin said the group had entered Mexico and claimed asylum there. He said DHS is in near-daily contact with Mexican officials and has told them there is “no chance” the caravan will be allowed into the U.S.
Mullin cited a third-country agreement, saying that because Mexico is considered a safe nation, migrants who claimed asylum there have no basis to claim it again in the United States. He said the Biden administration did not enforce that rule.
State cooperation and the court backlog
Mullin urged more states to join the 287(g) program, under which DHS reimburses local law enforcement for assisting with immigration enforcement. He said sanctuary states and cities do not participate.
He pointed to Oklahoma, which he represented in the U.S. Senate, as an example. With a population of 4.3 million and 76 of its 77 counties participating, Mullin said Oklahoma makes more 287(g) arrests than any state except Florida. If larger states such as Texas or Pennsylvania matched that participation, he said, arrests would “skyrocket.”
Mullin also said the surge in arrests has overwhelmed immigration courts. He said he and Todd Blanche of the Justice Department speak regularly and that the system needs about 1,500 more immigration judges to move cases faster.
“We will not apologize”
Gonzales cited a line from a DHS press release saying the department will never apologize for deporting an illegal alien. Mullin agreed. “If you’ve been here 20 years, I’m sorry,” he said. “You still came in 20 years ago illegally. We’re still going to arrest you and send you home.”
He said legal immigration remains open to those who follow the process. “If you want to chase the American dream, there’s a legal system to go through,” Mullin said.
Mullin closed by praising the department’s workforce, which he put at 278,000 employees. “We have the greatest mission in all the cabinet because we protect the homeland,” he said.
After the interview, Gonzales pointed to a separate report that the State Department had revoked more than 250,000 visas as part of a broad vetting crackdown.
Source
Interview with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin by Sara Gonzales, published October 1, 2026, on her YouTube channel: watch the full interview. Quotes and figures are as stated in the interview.
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