Markwayne Mullin Unloaded on AOC After She Called Gutting Homeland Security Worth It
Markwayne Mullin Unloaded on AOC After She Called Gutting Homeland Security Worth It
AOC just said the longest agency shutdown in American history was worth it.
Now Mullin is firing back.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin just said out loud what every normal American was thinking – and he pointed out something AOC apparently never considered.
AOC Called the DHS Shutdown Worth It. Here Is What It Actually Cost.
After Democrats forced the DHS shutdown – a 75-day funding lapse that became the longest in the agency's history – AOC declared the whole thing "worth it."
Mullin had heard enough.
"We lost almost 8% of the TSA workforce," Mullin said in a Fox News interview Thursday.
He wasn't done.
"My job is still to protect her constituents," he said. "And she thinks it's worth it to put their lives in danger?"
Then came the gut punch: "Because no other agency protects the homeland. DHS protects the homeland. And she thinks it's worth it. It's sad."
Over 1100 TSA Agents Quit. Here Is What Democrats Got for It.
The numbers are brutal.
Over 1,110 TSA officers quit their jobs during the shutdown – experienced agents who screened millions of passengers.
Gone.
And here's what AOC never mentioned when she called it "worth it" – those officers take four to six months to replace.
Every new recruit requires months of training before they can work a checkpoint, which means the holes in your airport security will still be there all summer.
At its worst, call-out rates at some airports topped 50%.
Houston Hobby hit 55% on a single day.
Trump had to sign an emergency executive order in late March just to keep TSA agents paid – tapping a $10 billion reserve from last year's One Big Beautiful Bill.
By the end of April, less than $1.4 billion remained.
The department was days away from having nothing left.
Democrats Got Absolutely Nothing
Here's what makes AOC's "worth it" comment so staggering.
Democrats shut down DHS demanding sweeping reforms to ICE – body cameras, restrictions on raids near schools and hospitals, new guardrails on enforcement.
They held the entire agency hostage for 75 days.
They got none of it.
The bill Trump signed Thursday funds TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, and the Secret Service through September.
ICE and Border Patrol remain funded separately through last year's reconciliation bill – the same $75 billion Congress approved as part of Trump's tax cuts package.
Speaker Johnson said the outcome delivered border security "with no crazy Democrat reforms."
AOC's party forced 50,000 workers to miss paychecks, drove away more than 1,000 trained security agents, created four-hour lines at American airports during Spring Break, and blew up TSA's World Cup staffing timeline.
For nothing.
This Is What Using National Security as a Poker Chip Looks Like
Mullin called for eliminating the filibuster so this can never happen again.
He's right.
Democrats made a calculated decision to use your family's airport security as leverage for their open-borders agenda.
When that bet failed – and it failed completely – AOC looked at 1,110 agents who quit, looked at the four-hour security lines, and said it was worth it.
Worth it to her, anyway.
Her constituents in New York fly through those understaffed checkpoints.
Her constituents were the ones missing flights during Spring Break while TSA agents called out at 40 and 50 percent rates because they couldn't afford to come to work unpaid.
Mullin stepped into DHS in the middle of this mess and spent weeks begging Congress to act while watching his agency bleed personnel.
When he says "it's sad," he's not performing outrage.
He's describing reality.
The longest agency shutdown in American history just ended.
Democrats have nothing to show for it.
And AOC thinks it was worth it.
Sources:
- DHS, "Spring Break Under Siege: Democrats' Reckless DHS Shutdown is Forcing TSA Officers to Work Without Pay," DHS.gov, March 17, 2026.
- TSA Acting Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, "Oversight Hearing – DHS Shutdown Impacts," TSA.gov, March 25, 2026.
- Fox News, "DHS Sec. Markwayne Mullin Details Impact of Record-Long Government Shutdown," FoxNews.com, May 1, 2026.
- The Hill, "Markwayne Mullin Attacks Chuck Schumer Over Homeland Security Shutdown," TheHill.com, April 24, 2026.
- The Hill, "DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin: Emergency Funds for Salaries Will Run Out by May Amid Shutdown," TheHill.com, April 22, 2026.
- NBC News, "Record-Long Department of Homeland Security Shutdown Ends," NBCNews.com, April 30, 2026.
