Former Edmond Mayor Randel Shadid was escorted out of a private Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce event Monday after a shouting match with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin over immigration enforcement and, at one point, Mullin's Christian faith. Audio of the confrontation surfaced publicly this week, capturing both men raising their voices before security intervened and asked Shadid to leave.
According to KOKH, Shadid pressed Mullin on immigration policy and ICE operations, including questions about a bipartisan border bill backed by Oklahoma Senator James Lankford that Shadid said was ready for congressional approval before the last election. The exchange grew heated when Shadid asked how Mullin's Christian faith aligned with his role overseeing ICE operations, and Mullin fired back that Shadid should not use scripture to question his Christianity, the station reported.
Audio published Monday adds detail to that confrontation: Shadid questioned how a Bible-reading Christian could excuse what he called the “abuse” of migrants by DHS agencies, prompting Mullin to shout back that Jesus commanded citizens to obey national laws, according to a recording shared on Facebook. Moments before that exchange, Mullin had defended aggressive ICE detentions of long-term undocumented residents by comparing the practice to prosecuting a child rapist 35 years after the offense, arguing federal immigration law carries no statute of limitations, per the same recording.
A Warning, Then a Walkout
Per the station's report, Mullin accused Shadid of trying to make a point rather than ask a question, warned that Shadid could be removed, and said the former mayor had not actually posed a question but was trying to be the smartest person in the room. Shadid told the station the exchange escalated into both men yelling, and that he raised his voice and screamed back at Mullin. He said he had believed the event would function as an open question-and-answer session.
Security ultimately told Shadid to leave, and he complied with that request, the outlet reported. Jamey Mullin, the Homeland Security secretary's brother and chairman of the Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce board, said Shadid repeatedly talked over Mullin and refused to sit down, and that Shadid was escorted out only after saying he would not leave.
Family Ties Behind the Podium
The private briefing carried an unusual family dynamic: Jamey Mullin has served as the 2026 chairman of the Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce board of directors this year. He said the chamber's annual briefing had been rescheduled to Monday specifically because his brother had become Homeland Security secretary. Earlier that same morning, Secretary Mullin had appeared in nearby Oklahoma City for the ribbon-cutting of a new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services facility, according to footage from Forbes Breaking News, placing the Edmond stop within a broader agency tour of his home state.
Shadid is no stranger to Edmond civic life. He served as an Edmond Ward One city councilman for 12 years beginning in 1979 before winning election as mayor, holding that office for a four-year term from May 1991 to May 1995, according to the City of Edmond. A practicing attorney who moved to Edmond in 1973, Shadid has remained a visible figure in the city through commercial real estate work and public art advisory roles, per 405 Magazine.
Backlash Over the Removal
Not everyone at the event backed the decision to remove him. Jena Nelson, who attended the chamber gathering, criticized the choice to escort Shadid out and voiced support for his free-speech concerns, according to the KOKH report. Nelson said people should be able to communicate without throwing someone out.
A DHS spokesperson said Secretary Mullin stands firmly behind the men and women who enforce the nation's immigration laws, per the station's account. Mullin, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, was confirmed by the Senate in a 54-45 vote in March 2026 to become the ninth Secretary of Homeland Security, succeeding Kristi Noem, according to the Department of Homeland Security. During his confirmation fight, opponents circulated video montages highlighting his volatile demeanor and past threats of physical duels while in Congress to question his temperament for the job, according to a review by Women Empowered for Democracy.
A Press Ban That Didn't Hold
Reporting Tuesday indicated that DHS staff on site attempted to impose a media ban on coverage of the shouting match, but local press published the recorded audio anyway, according to The Daily Beast. The episode lands amid wider scrutiny of Mullin's enforcement agenda: under his push for roughly 2,000 daily ICE arrests nationwide, Hoodline previously reported that TRAC Immigration data from July 2026 showed 70.6 percent of the 65,765 people then in ICE detention had no criminal convictions.
Whether the confrontation prompts any formal chamber disciplinary review, or further comment from either Mullin brother, remains unclear. For now, the audio itself, and the dueling accounts of who escalated what inside a private meeting room in Edmond, are what's circulating.
