Trump Is Already Fighting With His New Homeland Security Secretary

It’s only been four months, but it looks like Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is already on the White House’s bad side.

The rift is a result of some early missteps and concerns about Mullin’s personnel choices, according to a senior Trump administration official and a senior Department of Homeland Security official who spoke with NBC News Thursday.  

The White House wasn’t happy with Mullin’s decision to temporarily restrict Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle stops after two deadly shootings by immigration officers in Texas and Maine. 

Just one day after Mullin announced the change, and yet another person was killed during a chaotic ICE incident, Trump ordered the agency to resume traffic stops.

An administration official told NBC News that Mullin’s decision was “100 percent” a bad move.

Mullin reportedly never received the White House’s blessing before announcing the sudden policy change—leaving President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan in the dark. Trump was reportedly furious, believing that it signaled the administration was softening on immigration enforcement. 

Another source of tension between Mullin and the White House is the secretary’s decision to nominate Lance Schroyer, one of his allies, to run ICE. 

The decision had “a lot of people talking,” as Schroyer has no direct experience with federal law or immigration enforcement, a DHS official told NBC News. In addition to Schroyer’s lackluster resumé, he’s also been accused of failing to pay for child support.

In any case, several officials “aren’t thrilled with him,” one Trump administration official told NBC News. 

Rising tensions with the freshly appointed DHS secretary come as a new report suggests that Trump’s second administration has even higher turnover among Senate-confirmed officials than his first. ...