DHS chief blames pepper-sprayed senator for being attacked during ICE facility visit

Department of Homeland Security leader Markwayne Mullin dodged responsibility for a senator being pepper-sprayed outside an immigration detention facility, saying it was the senator's own fault, according to reporting from inside a recent Cabinet meeting.

“Now you have one of the senators who complained because he got splattered with a pepper ball,” Mullin said, referring to Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.). “I’m sorry, you probably shouldn’t have been there.”

Earlier this week, Kim went to an immigration detention center in Newark to conduct a congressional oversight visit. A large crowd of protesters gathered around the facility in support of detainees who were on a hunger strike when law enforcement began using chemical munitions against them.

Kim reported that he was pepper-sprayed and also hit with a pepper ball, or a small projectile that releases a chemical irritant.

According to reporting by The New Republic, Mullin also downplayed the scale of the hunger strike as "a handful of individuals who were refusing to eat," the DHS chief reportedly said.