This Democrat Helped Confirm Trump's Newest Unqualified ICE Boss.

On January 13th, 2026, Aliya Rahman — a Bangladeshi-American software engineer and U.S. citizen with autism and a traumatic brain injury — was dragged from her car by ICE agents on the way to her 39th appointment at Hennepin County's Traumatic Brain Injury Center. Six weeks after her congressional testimony landed in the Senate record, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich voted to hand that agency to his friend.

Read MoreAliya Rahman Senate Statement, February 3, 2026

Democracy Now, Aliya Rahman Interview, February 9, 2026

BuzzFeed News, Aliya Rahman Testimony

DHS Confirmation of Markwayne Mullin, March 24, 2026

NPR on Mullin Background

On January 13th, 2026, Aliya Rahman was driving to a medical appointment when ICE agents surrounded her car. The first instruction from an agent: "Move. I will break your effing window." When the window shattered and she told them she was disabled, the response was "Too late." An agent cut her seatbelt with a combat knife. She hit the ground face-first. She was carried facedown by her cuffed arms and legs. She was denied her cane. She was told "Walk. You can do it. Walk." She was placed in a wheelchair and told "You were driving, right? So your legs do work." She pleaded for medical care for over an hour. It was denied. She lost consciousness on the cell floor. She woke up at Hennepin County Medical Center — brought there to be treated for assault. She was never asked for ID. Never charged with a crime.

On February 3rd, 2026, Rahman's written statement was formally submitted to the United States Senate. On March 24th — six weeks later — Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico voted to confirm Markwayne Mullin as DHS Secretary, one of only two Democrats to do so. His stated reason: "I consider Markwayne Mullin a friend." Mullin's qualifications: former MMA fighter, former plumber, talk radio host, associate's degree in construction technology, zero law enforcement experience, zero military service, zero emergency management background. Heinrich's own colleague, Senator Ben Ray Luján, voted no. Senator Dick Durbin stated that Mullin lacks "the knowledge, skill, or the right advisors to rein in ICE abuses and say 'no' to Donald Trump's anti-immigrant instincts." Rahman is represented by Alexa Van Brunt of the MacArthur Justice Center.

This is not one bad vote in isolation. Indivisible Albuquerque has documented the pattern: Rubio, then Burgum, then Mullin — three consecutive Trump cabinet confirmations from a senator representing a state that is over 50% Hispanic. Heinrich says he wants a DHS Secretary he can call for a "constructive conversation about my state." New Mexico's majority-minority communities are not waiting for that conversation. They are organizing. Calls are flooding Heinrich's office. The progressive base wants to know whether he will use that open line to his friend.

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