Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin marked the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on Friday with a call for Americans to reject the politicization of his department.

Then he turned his memorial speech into a full-throated political attack on sanctuary cities.

The irony was not lost on observers.

The Call for Unity

Speaking at the DHS 9/11 memorial ceremony at the department’s Resilience Plaza, Mullin framed the anniversary as both a time of reflection and a measure of the department’s work over the past quarter-century.

“This is a very humbling experience for me because, on one hand, it’s a time of reflection when you look at 25 years of a day that all of us will remember; it changed our lives,” Mullin said. “And then in another way, it’s honestly a time that we look at the success of the Department of Homeland Security, because for 25 years we prevented it from happening again”.

DHS was created in 2002 in response to the attacks and began operations in 2003, bringing together multiple federal agencies under one roof. It now oversees Customs and Border Protection, ICE, TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, and the Secret Service.

Mullin, who took over the department earlier this year after Trump fired former Secretary Kristi Noem, said the agency is filled with 270,000 “true patriots” whose mission every day is to “make sure it never happens again”.

The Numbers on Terror Arrests

In a statement released ahead of the anniversary, DHS touted its counterterrorism record under the second Trump administration.

“Under President Trump’s strong leadership, ICE has arrested more than 2,100 known or suspected terrorists, and has deported more than 2,000 known or suspected terrorists from our country,” Mullin said.

The Washington Examiner reported that Mullin announced at the ceremony that DHS had arrested over 2,150 terrorists under Trump’s second term alone.

Then Came the Pivot

After honoring the victims, families, and first responders of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, Mullin turned his attention to a topic that has dominated his tenure: sanctuary cities.

“It’s tough to sometimes fight — and I’m not trying to get political here, but I will — sanctuary cities, where they don’t want us to go into, and they’re harboring and abetting activities just like this,” Mullin said.

“They can say it’s for humanitarian purposes, but the truth is, when you become a sanctuary city, and you’re not supporting law enforcement, you’re not allowing law enforcement to do their job, it’s a safe haven that incubates terrorist activity“.

He listed cities by name: Seattle, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, and even Fairfax, Virginia. “It bleeds into other parts of the country,” he warned.

Mediaite described the speech as a “rant against sanctuary cities,” noting that Mullin also said the day of the attacks “still pisses me off” and questioned why terrorists targeted America: “They don’t like the way we worship? They don’t like what America stands for? They don’t like the republic?”.

The Political Firestorm Behind the Speech

Mullin’s remarks come amid a fierce political battle over immigration enforcement that has put DHS squarely in the crosshairs.

Under Trump’s tenure, Democrats have attempted to roll back ICE funding in the wake of the administration’s aggressive enforcement operations, leading to a 76-day shutdown of the department earlier this year. Democrats pointed to the killings of two citizens in Minneapolis by immigration officers, arguing the administration’s tactics went too far.

Mullin asked the crowd why DHS had become a political issue at all.

“We’re taking care of your backyard,” he said, arguing that some politicians oppose the department to “score political points”.

“If we take care of the small criminals, they’ll never become large criminals, and those large criminals will never turn into terrorists,” Mullin said. “If we can secure our border, we can keep the 2,150 terrorists from coming into our country. It shouldn’t be political. And if anything, when we start looking at the 25th anniversary, if there’s anything we should agree on, it should be that. Why should the Department of Homeland Security be controversial?“.

The Backlash

The speech drew immediate criticism from those who felt Mullin had politicized a solemn occasion.

The irony of calling for an end to politicization while delivering a politically charged address was not lost on commentators. Mediaite’s headline summed up the sentiment: “‘Not Trying To Get Political Here, But I Will’: Markwayne Mullin Turns 9/11 Speech Into Anti-Sanctuary City Rant”.

The Independent also covered the speech under the headline “DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin uses his 9/11 speech to rail against sanctuary cities”.

It wasn’t Mullin’s first controversial 9/11-related comment this month. Days earlier, he told Fox News that 9/11 “isn’t a day that I just love to celebrate,” adding that it “puts kind of a bad taste in my mouth”. That remark also drew backlash, with critics pointing out that the anniversary is a day of mourning, not celebration.

The Bottom Line

Twenty-five years after the attacks that led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the agency’s current leader marked the occasion by calling for unity — and then, by his own admission, getting political anyway.

Whether Mullin’s message lands or backfires remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: on the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security is as political as it has ever been.