Rachel Reyes writes:

This spring I watched Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation hearing to become the homeland security secretary. It was most likely the first confirmation hearing I ever watched. I have never been a political person.

I tuned in because Mr. Mullin’s words were of personal concern to me. In 2025 a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed my son, Ruben Ray Martinez, in Texas. He was 23 years old, a quiet, funny and gentle young man — and an unarmed United States citizen. He was shot nearly a year before federal agents killed two other Americans, Alex Pretti and Renee Good, in Minnesota and obviously well before the recent shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and Johan Guerrero in Maine. Yet many fewer people know Ruben’s name. The Department of Homeland Security, then under Secretary Kristi Noem, withheld the full details of his shooting from me and from the public.

It was not made public that an ICE agent was the one who shot my son until federal officials were forced to disclose that information because of an unrelated lawsuit.

I wanted to see evidence at his hearing that Mr. Mullin’s tenure would bring a more respectful, serious and transparent approach to America’s immigration enforcement, after the previous period so damaged public confidence in those efforts. I was let down then, and I continue to be let down. Over three months into Mr. Mullin’s tenure, there’s zero indication that Ruben’s death reverberated seriously within the Department of Homeland Security or that it would be treated as a serious test of departmental accountability. Mr. Mullin has not publicly acknowledged my son’s killing, much less explained what, if anything, the department has learned from the tragedy.

We should expect transparency and accountability from any administration — especially one that has claimed transparency as a governing principle. Like most other Americans, I believe immigration laws should be enforced. But we should not be asked to choose between enforcing the law and transparency when federal agents kill someone. The public deserves reliable facts. Families deserve honest answers. And the government should not have to be pressured into providing them. [Continue reading…]