DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin slammed the door on claims that the Trump administration is backing away from mass deportations — telling critics Sunday night that Haitians who lose Temporary Protected Status face two choices: accept a $2,600 stipend and a flight home, or be removed by force.
The clarification came after Mullin’s Sunday morning appearance on CNN’s State of the Union sparked backlash from conservatives who thought he was softening the administration’s deportation stance.
Speaking with Jake Tapper, Mullin defended the Trump administration’s decision to end TPS for Haitian and Syrian immigrants after the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the secretary’s choice to terminate a country’s TPS cannot be legally challenged.
“If you are in the country without status, you are here illegally. Illegal aliens have two choices — they can either accept a $2,600 stipend and a flight home to self deport, or they will be removed.”
Mullin had told Tapper that affected immigrants “can try to apply for a permanent residence here, they can apply for a temporary visa if they choose to, or they can choose to go back.”
That phrasing triggered immediate conservative blowback.
Former Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino said on X, “I guess Republicans want to lose the midterms… Promising mass deportations won big.” Fox News host Laura Ingraham added, “This is not what we voted for.”
Let me be ABUNDANTLY clear:
Temporary Protected Status is just that: TEMPORARY.
Democrats tried to turn this into a defacto amnesty program. President Trump put a STOP to it.
If you are in the country without status, you are here illegally. Illegal aliens have two choices —… https://t.co/v9CQ9alA5G
— Secretary Markwayne Mullin (@SecMullinDHS) June 28, 2026
Mullin emphasized that TPS was “never intended to be permanent” — some recipients have been here 15 to 20 years under the program.
When Tapper pressed whether the 350,000 Haitians still holding TPS can stay legally if they apply for permanent status, Mullin said it “depends on if they qualify or not.”
Mullin explained individuals with criminal backgrounds or those relying on social welfare won’t qualify. But under some circumstances, immigrants working full-time jobs may apply — though they must go through “the regular steps that every other immigrant who wants to come to the country legally has to go through.”
He added: “Underneath some visas, when you overstay your visa, you have to go back to the country you came from.”
Mullin was confirmed by the Senate in late March after Trump fired former Secretary Kristi Noem. He’s been tasked with overseeing one of the administration’s core domestic objectives: deporting millions of illegal immigrants who entered during the Biden years.
The charges remain allegations. The case has not been proven in court.
