MPAC Condemns DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s Anti-Muslim Remarks on Fox News

Washington, D.C. | www.mpac.org | October 22, 2026— The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) strongly condemns recent televised remarks made by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin. 

During a Fox News appearance targeting Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, Secretary Mullin weaponized disputed theological references to launch an attack on Dr. El-Sayed and the broader American Muslim community. In his comments, Secretary Mullin intentionally attempted to link Dr. El-Sayed to the Muslim Brotherhood while vilifying Islam and all Muslims: 

“When you start understanding, what – this is affiliated to the Prophet Mohammed. When it’s permissible to lie, it says there’s three reasons that it’s permissible. One is in a time of war. One is in a time of conflict, to reconcile, and one is when you’re trying to persuade your wife to essentially stay with you. And you go, okay. Where does(sic.) the other religions say that it’s permissible to lie? And so, you can’t compare that. Extreme Islam is dangerous. It’s dangerous to the world. And you can see that, and it’s dangerous to the United States. And we shouldn’t have a leader [Abdul El-Sayed] that is associated or even tries to associate with the Muslim Brotherhood and then try to defend it. That’s a far reach.”

Secretary Mullin falsely weaponizes disputed theological traditions to advance the idea that Islam inherently permits and encourages deception, before declaring that Islam is "dangerous to the world" and "dangerous to the United States". This reinforces a common anti-Muslim trope used to cast suspicion on American Muslim communities, now increasingly directed at public servants and candidates of Muslim faith to undermine their credibility and portray them as untrustworthy.

It is deeply alarming that a cabinet official entrusted with protecting the civil rights and security of all Americans would resort to misrepresenting religious discourse to vilify millions of American Muslims. As an organization whose leadership and staff include former DHS employees, MPAC knows firsthand that rhetoric of this nature from senior security officials does not make our nation safer. DHS is one of the federal government’s largest employers of American Muslims from Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. When the Secretary attacks their faith, he is disparaging the very employees working to keep Americans safe. These attacks harm not only American Muslim communities, but our nation as a whole, fueling bigotry and eroding the principle of pluralism. 

We call on Secretary Mullin to retract these reckless comments and we urge interfaith organizations, elected officials, political leaders and Americans of conscience across faith and political spectrums to condemn the unchecked anti-Muslim sentiment escalating in the weeks leading up to the November midterm elections. Most recent examples include President Trump's recent Oval Office remarks calling Dr. Abdul El-Sayed “Mohammed” and a “radical jihadist”, and the rampant anti-Muslim rhetoric we’ve seen from sitting members of Congress over the last year.