People Power United Joins Movement Letter to Congress Advocating for Impeachment of Secretary Markwayne Mullin
🗽A well informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny.
Friends, each week, on behalf of our membership, we join movement efforts and sign on to letters to Congress and other key decision-makers on a wide range of issues that advance freedom over fascism, progress, and power to the people. Here is a copy of our sign-on to a letter to Congress advocating for the impeachment of Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Shout out to Voto Latino for leading this effort.
July 16, 2026
Dear Speaker Johnson, Leader Jeffries, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Raskin, Chairman Garbarino, and Ranking Member Thompson:
On behalf of Voto Latino and the undersigned interfaith, human rights, business, immigration, veteran and civil rights leaders, we write to demand the immediate introduction of articles of impeachment and a full congressional investigation into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s handling of deaths in detention, shootings by ICE and CBP agents and other violence perpetuated by DHS. Secretary Mullin has demonstrated a profound and systemic failure to exercise sound judgment and oversight of agency actions as required by his office. His actions and oversight constitute a gross dereliction of duty that directly threatens the public interest.
We are extremely concerned about the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas and the shootings by DHS agents under his tenure. Sec. Mullin has failed to provide meaningful oversight over the rogue and unchecked pattern of excessive force weaponized against entire communities across the country, the tragic and preventable deaths of individuals under ICE custody and the deplorable, sub-human conditions under which at least 60,000 immigrants and U.S. citizens are currently subjected to within detention centers nationwide.
Under his stewardship, DHS has fundamentally eroded public trust in federal law enforcement, violating its core statutory mandate to protect the homeland while preserving civil rights. Under Secretary Mullin, the department has continued to engage in unchecked enforcement operating completely outside the bounds of human dignity, statutory oversight, and due process. Rather than upholding constitutional protections, his leadership has actively incentivized a reckless and violent approach that subverts the rule of law. This systemic mismanagement not only compromises the physical safety of our communities but constitutes a direct betrayal of the core democratic values upon which this nation was founded.
Documented Rights Violations Under Secretary Mullin’s Leadership:
1. The Fatal ICE Shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine:
In less than a week, two separate killings of Latino men at the hands of ICE have been reported, laying bare a devastating escalation of lethal force. On July 7, 2026, a federal immigration agent operating under Secretary Mullin’s administration shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a beloved husband, father, and small construction business owner who had lived productively in the United States for 35 years and was in the process of regularizing his immigration status.1 ICE agents operating in unmarked SUVs pulled over his work van at sunrise. Rather than a routine civil enforcement action, agents deployed lethal force, shooting Mr. Salgado Araujo in the abdomen in broad daylight and handcuffing him as he groaned on the pavement.
Just days later, on July 13, 2026, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old from Colombia who was fully authorized to work in the United States was shot and killed by ICE agents at an intersection in Biddeford, Maine. This horrific string of tragedies is not isolated; it is part of a systemic pattern of unmitigated violence under Secretary Mullin’s administration.2 Our families are bearing the devastating brunt of a hyper-funded federal agency operating with zero restraints, sweeping power, and no oversight. We firmly join Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, alongside state and federal leaders, in demanding an immediate, fully independent, and transparent investigation into these killings. We demand a real, unbiased third-party inquiry, the public release of all relevant video footage—including body-worn camera recordings—and a comprehensive, unedited accounting of exactly what happened.3
2. Obstruction of Congress and Restricting Congressional Oversight of ICE Facilities:
Under Secretary Mullin, DHS has systematically impeded the constitutional right and duty of members of Congress to conduct oversight of federal detention facilities. This was starkly demonstrated at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in New Jersey.4 When lawmakers, families, and advocates attempted to investigate systemic abuses—including hunger strikes over rotten food, overcrowding, and the tragic custody death of Jean Wilson-Brutus—Secretary Mullin’s administration responded with extreme obstruction and escalatory tactics.5 6 7 Rather than allowing transparent oversight into a facility unfit to house detainees, DHS implemented restrictive visitation policies designed to shield private prison operators like the GEO Group from public and congressional scrutiny.8 Furthermore, when peaceful protests erupted outside the facility, ICE agents deployed unprovoked, escalatory force—including the use of tear gas, pepper spray, and batons against both detainees inside and advocates exercising their First Amendment rights outside.9
3. Flagrant Defiance of Court Orders and the Federal Judiciary:
During his first appearance on Capitol Hill as Secretary on June 2, 2026, Secretary Mullin repeatedly refused four separate times to commit to following future federal court orders when judges ruled that DHS is acting illegally. When pressed by Senator Chris Murphy on whether he would implement judicial rulings, Secretary Mullin callously claimed he could not answer because he views the judiciary as “politicized,” stating that judges “use their bench for their political opinion, not just the rule of law.” As Senator Murphy noted during the panel, DHS has violated nearly 100 court orders this year alone, a flagrant noncompliance that directly fueled the catastrophic, longest government funding lapse in U.S. history earlier this year.10
4. Mass Family Separation and Human Toll on U.S. Citizen Children:
Under Secretary Mullin’s expanded enforcement directives, the human toll on children and families has reached catastrophic proportions. According to a May 2026 analysis, more than 205,000 children have had a parent detained by federal authorities since the current administration took office. While this systemic crisis began before his tenure, Secretary Mullin took command of the agency on March 24, 2026, and actively accelerated these operations. Just two months into his administration, the pace of family trauma has intensified, with the overall figures now including an estimated 145,000 U.S. citizen children and north of 50,000 children under the age of six. More than 22,000 children have had both parents detained, leaving them entirely abandoned. This deliberate orchestration of mass family separation, carried out through the aggressive raids and detention operations expanded by Secretary Mullin, constitutes an unconscionable attack on innocent children and a flagrant violation of child welfare and basic human dignity.11
5. Surge in Custody Fatalities:
At least 21 people have tragically died in ICE custody over the course of 2026. Alarmingly, eight of these preventable deaths have occurred since Secretary Mullin took office in March 2026, highlighting a severe and immediate health and safety crisis under his brief tenure.12
6. Aggressive Expansion of Family Detention Infrastructure:
Since March 24, 2026, Secretary Mullin has aggressively pushed forward six detention center expansions across Texas, Arizona, California, and Louisiana. This includes the highly alarming construction of a 528-bed facility specifically engineered to hold families and young children directly adjacent to a deportation flight hub.13
The survival of our system of checks and balances depends on your willingness to act. We demand that you hold Secretary Mullin accountable for his systemic violations of constitutional protections and his direct assault on Congressional authority. Congress must act now to remove him from office before more lives are lost.
Thank you for treating this plea with the urgency it warrants. We are available to provide further documentation or testify as needed.
Respectfully,
Voto Latino
Alianza Americas
Alianza for Progress
America’s Voice
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
Aquí: The Accountability Movement
Bend the Arc
Border Network for Human Rights
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Center for Law and Social Policy
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP)
Democracy Power Project
East Bay Sanctuary Covenant
El Centro de la Raza, Washington State
Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM)
Food Justice DmV
Freedom for Immigrants
GALEO Impact Fund, Inc. (Norcross, GA)
Grassroots Leadership
Hispanic Federation
Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef)
Immigrants Rising
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Jolt Action
Latino Victory Project
Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition
Make the Road New Jersey
Make the Road Pennsylvania
Make the Road States
MANA, A National Latina Organization
Mi Familia Vota
Miami Valley Immigration Coalition
MPower Change Action Fund
National Action Network
National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)
National Korean American Service and Education Consortium
New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice
People Power United
Poder Latinx
Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network (SIREN)
Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC)
The Gathering for Justice
The Workers Circle
UnidosUS Action Fund
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)
Venezuelan American Caucus
Voters of Tomorrow
Win Without War
Workers Defense Action Fund
For more information on this letter, please reach reach out to Press@votolatino.org _____________________
1. PBS NewsHour. (2026, July 8). A Mexican father was shot and killed by an ICE of icer. His son is demanding an independent probe.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/a-mexican-father-was-shot-and-killed-by-an-ice-officer-his-son-is-demanding-an -independent-probe
2. NBC News. (2026, July 13). ICE investigation underway after fatal shooting in Biddeford, Maine. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/biddeford-maine-ice-investigation-fatal-shooting-rcna587279 3. Garcia, S. [@RepSylviaGarcia]. (2026, July 8). Statement demanding an independent investigation into the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston [Tweet]. X.
4. Kim, A., Booker, C. A., Watson Coleman, B., Pou, N., Pallone, F., Jr., Norcross, D., Menendez, J. R., Mejia, A., McIver, L., & Conaway, H. C., Jr. (2026, May 29). Delaney Hall oversight letter [Congressional oversight letter]. Office of Senator Andy Kim.
https://www.kim.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Quill-Letter-L37114-Delaney-Hall-Oversight-Letter-FINAL-V ersion-4-05-29-2026-@-02-26-PM.pdf
5. Villalba, L. (n.d.). El grito de nosotros / Our cry: A letter from inside Delaney Hall. Movimiento Cosecha. https://www.lahuelga.com/elgrito
6. Silva, D. (2026, May). Expired food, neglected medical care and hunger strike allegations fuel protests at N.J. ICE facility. NBC News.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/expired-food-neglected-medical-care-hunger-strike-allegations-fuel-pro-rcna3 46874.
7. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (n.d.). Detainee death report: BRUTUS, Jean Wilson. https://www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/reports/ddrJeanWilsonBrutus.pdf
8. American Immigration Lawyers Association. (2026, May 11). ICE issues memo restricting congressional visits to detention facilities (AILA Doc. No. 26051200).
https://www.aila.org/library/ice-issues-memo-restricting-congressional-visits-to-detention-facilities 9. de Guzman, C. (2026, June 1). What to know about the hunger strike and protests at a New Jersey ICE facility. TIME. https://time.com/article/2026/05/26/delaney-hall-ice-protests-new-jersey-dhs-geo-group-hunger-strike/ 10. POLITICO. (2026, June 2). Live updates: Justin Murphy wins New Jersey Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Retrieved July 9, 2026, from
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/06/02/congress/justin-murphy-senate-new-jersey-00947916 11. Cancian, M., Cantu, N., Howard, L., & Watson, T. (2026, May 18). The administration has detained 400,000 immigrants: What do we know about their children? Brookings.
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-administration-has-detained-400000-immigrants-what-do-we-know-about-thei r-children/
12. National Immigration Project. (2026, June 29). Mourning those who have died in ICE custody. https://nipnlg.org/news/mourning-those-who-have-died-ice-custody
13. Brook, J. (2026, July 6). A new ICE facility could speed up deportations for families and kids. PBS NewsHour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/a-new-ice-facility-could-speed-up-deportations-for-families-and-kids
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