Jake Tapper might have thought he was going to put the DHS Secretary on the spot. Instead, Markwayne Mullin administered a master class to CNN's State of the Union host today.
The topic was ICE's operation against Oscar Belgal, an illegal Dominican immigrant wanted on multiple charges. ICE agents accosted him in his car, and when he tried to flee, running into other cars, an agent fired and superficially wounded him. Belgal was taken into custody.
Incredibly, Tapper began by defending Belgal's actions
"Do you see how for anyone, a bunch of men not clearly identified as with the government, as with ICE, banging on windows with a gun, might cause anyone to flee?"
Mullin wasn't buying Tapper's take: "Jake, what you're not understanding is the full gravity of the situation. Oscar had already fled once before, just a month ago. He knew that officers were looking for him. He understood that he was a wanted man."
The secretary proceeded to recite Belgal's extensive criminal record of 13 charges, including felony assault, felony robbery, weapons possession, and membership in a gang that killed a Customs and Border Protection officer last year.
Mullin refuted Tapper's justification of Belgal's fleeing on the grounds the people approaching his car were "unidentified." To the contrary, Mullin said that the officers had displayed their badges, were giving clear commands, and that, having fled before, Belgal knew exactly who who had accosted him.
Mullin also cited the case of two other Dominican illegals:
"Why is the media so outraged by this? It doesn't make any sense, because Jake, remember, the week before, an NYPD officer in the Bronx, same area that this was at, was stabbed by two thugs, too, with extensive rap sheets that was released by New York back on the streets. They were also from the Dominican Republic, and not one person covered that. I don't think the media covered it, and I know the mayor didn't go out and give some press conference about it. All three of these thugs, Oscar and the two individuals that stabbed the NYPD officer, all three of those individuals should have been deported years ago, but of course the state of New York is a sanctuary state, and this is the kind of criminals that are running wild."
Tapper's response: "I'm just asking about the tactics, I'm not defending the character of any of these gentlemen."
"Gentlemen." How ineffably refined!
Markwayne Masterclasses Tapper On ICE Enforcement pic.twitter.com/M8KLKibGJa
— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) October 11, 2026
Tapper also criticized ICE for shooting into the car given that Belgal's five-year-old son was in the back seat [he was not injured]: "In terms of tactics, shouldn't agents be checking for things like that before they fire into the vehicle?"
Mullin pointed out that it was Belgal who selfishly endangered his son by attempting to flee, inviting an ICE response.
Does Tapper have any idea of the danger to law enforcement in highly fluid situations like this? Is Tapper of the school that wants police to shoot an armed suspect in the leg—or why not shoot the gun out of his hand—just like Jake's seen many times in the movies!
Mullin ended by pointing out that there are 258 illegal immigrant murderers currently in custody in New York, but that there's a risk they'll be returned to the streets because New York refuses to honor the detainers ICE has put out for them.
It was a Mullin masterclass. He came loaded with facts, subduing the second-guessing of a leading light of the liberal media.
Here's the transcript.
CNN
State of the Union
10/11/26
9:02 am EDT
JAKE TAPPER: On immigration, a shooting by federal officers in the Bronx reignited tensions over Trump's deportation crackdown and the tactics used.
This after agents carrying out an enforcement operation fired multiple shots into a car, wounding the driver while his five-year-old child was in the back seat.
And joining me now is the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin. Secretary Mullin, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.
Let's start by showing our viewers this, NYPD video of the shooting. You can see Oscar Belgal in a parking spot. A plainclothes officer approaches the driver's side window with his gun drawn. Another plainclothes officer approaches by the driver's side headlight. Belgal then appears to try to reverse and tries to drive away. One of the officers is banging on his window with a gun.
So, I understand that Oscar Belgal's in the country illegally, and he has a criminal record, including grand larceny. I guess the question I have is, do you see how for anyone, a bunch of men not clearly identified as with the government, as with ICE, banging on windows with a gun, might cause anyone to flee?
And I wonder, would it not be safer for the officers if they were clearly identified as with ICE?
MARKWAYNE MULLIN: Well, Jake, what you're not understanding is the full gravity of the situation. Oscar had already fled once before, just a month ago. He knew that officers were looking for him. He understood that he was a wanted man.
I mean, think about the guy's record. I'll read it here to you. He's got four charges of felony robbery, two charges of felony assault, felony larceny, misdemeanor assault, weapons possession, misdemeanor larceny, possession of stolen property, two felony charges for dangerous drugs, and a strong gang affiliation, which he has also wanted for, for possibly direct or indirect information on a CBP officer that was killed by his gang last year.
This guy we knew was dangerous. We knew he was probably armed. He had fled from us before. We had taken every precaution possible to take and for when us to approach his vehicle, we approached it and was giving lawful commands.
What you're not hearing is the actual audio, too. He knew exactly who we were, he decided to flee once again like he had done before. And so when someone tries to flee from us, they're taking, they're making their decisions at that time.
The truth is, this guy was an awful human being. He was a thug, he was a gangbanger, and he had only been in the country for three years, and he had this long of a rap sheet and had been released multiple times by New York State. At the same time, he was on probation. So you couldn't have got a worse of a worse thug than this, than Oscar is.
And why is the media so outraged by this? It doesn't make any sense, because Jake, remember, the week before, an NYPD officer in the Bronx, same area that this was at, was stabbed by two thugs, too, with extensive rap sheets that was released by New York back on the streets.
They were also from the Dominican Republic, and not one person covered that. I don't think the media covered it, and I know the mayor didn't go out and give some press conference about it. If anybody's going to be outraged, they should be outraged that these criminals are still running the streets when they should have been detained because we put detainers on them and asked the state of New York to give them to us and let us ship them back out.
So all three of these thugs, Oscar and the two individuals that stabbed the NYPD officer, all three of those individuals should have been deported years ago, but of course the state of New York is a sanctuary state and this is the kind of criminals that are running wild.
TAPPER: Yeah, so I'm just asking about the tactics, I'm not defending the character of any of these gentlemen, because obviously one of the reasons this has gotten so much attention is that Oscar Belgal's five-year-old son was in the backseat of the car. Now, you have said that the agents were not aware that there was this child in the backseat of the car. But I wonder also about, in terms of tactics, shouldn't agents be checking for things like that before they fire into the vehicle? Thankfully, the kid's fine, but if this was a targeted operation, they were surveilling Mr. Belgal. Are you 100% sure that the tactics being used don't need to change in any way here?
MULLIN: Well, let's be clear about this too. Do you know who knew the five-year-old was in the car?
TAPPER: Sure: Oscar Belgal.
MULLIN: If I'm a father, if I'm a father, which I am a father of six, and I'm gonna do everything I can to protect my child. I promise you I would been obeying the lawful commands that were given. The last thing I would have done is put my son or one of my kids in danger. He chose to accelerate at a rated speed, hit the vehicle in front, flee, flare off, and accelerate towards officers into another vehicle. He was a selfish individual. Why would you ever put your child into situations like that?
TAPPER: Now, again, I'm not defending him.
MULLIN: Let's think about the 258 illegals that are in New York City right now that are wanted for murder. Let's talk about the 258 that are currently in state prison that killed individuals. That were illegals that we got detainers on. All 258 of those individuals took an American life, and all 258 deaths were 100% preventable because those illegals shouldn't be here.
Now, if people are really concerned about the tactics that are being used, how about the state cooperates with us? These individuals that I've talked about have detainers on them. Oscar had a detainer on him. The two individuals that stabbed the New York PD officer, one of them had a detainer on him.
That means they were locked up before. We asked the state, we asked the city, to give them to us, and they released them back on the streets. If anybody should be in outrage, it should be the public to the sanctuary states and the sanctuary politicians that continue to release these murderers and thugs back on the streets and put the American people at danger.
