Josh Gottheimer

Markwayne Mullin, U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, the Bergen County Democrat, have established something rarely seen Washington amid the partisan tribal warfare of the Trump era.

They share a strong, across-the-aisle friendship.

The two became friends through an early-morning workout group in the U.S. House of Representatives gym when Gottheimer, who represents New Jersey's 5th Congressional District, was first elected and arrived in Washington in 2017. Mullin, then an Oklahoma congressman, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2023. Their families have grown close, with their teenage daughters collaborating on a book about bipartisanship. Earlier this year, Gottheimer sat behind Mullin during his confirmation hearing for the homeland security post.

During his testimony, Mullin said he had friendships with other Democrats but chose not to publicly support them for political reasons. Gottheimer was different.

“It drives me crazy, but when you see a real friend like that, I’d run through fire for him,” Mullin testified about Gottheimer.

Now may be the time for Gottheimer to put Mullin’s devotion to the test.

Can Gottheimer appeal to Mullin on Delaney Hall?

Maybe Gottheimer could use his friendship with the powerful Mullin to help ease — and maybe end — the crisis at Delaney Hall, the 1,100-bed Newark detention center that has become the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration’s deportation campaign. If there was ever a time for Gottheimer to speed-dial his gym buddy, it's now, before another round of violence and chaos erupts on Doremus Avenue, where the grim, privately operated facility sits near a reeking sewage plant.

It would seem to be just the kind of crisis for the co-founder of the House Problem Solvers Caucus.

The conflict is not about a knotty piece of legislation needing to be rescued with a bipartisan agreement, hammered out in the hearing rooms of Congress. But it is a crisis that could use some back-channel diplomacy. Mullin might listen and heed the suggestions from a trusted colleague from across the divide.

The back channel is also a place where he can listen without the cacophony of Trump or White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of the ruthless immigration roundup who has barked out demands for a crackdown.

There is reason to think that a back-channel appeal would be worth the effort.

In March, Mullin and Gottheimer met behind the scenes to work through an impasse on homeland security funding by exploring the possibility of requiring immigration agents to obtain judicial warrants before entering private homes. They were looking for a way to placate Democrats and a White House “disinclined to give ground,’’ said the New York Times account of the talks.

The Tenafly Democrat declined to say much about the possibility of outreach to Mullin, but he didn’t deny it, either. He only couched any involvement in terms of a collaborative effort by his fellow members of the New Jersey House delegation.

“I’ve been clear from the start: I support strong congressional oversight of all detention centers, and I’ll use every means possible to stand up for the proper treatment of children and families," Gottheimer said in a statement.

Is Sherrill enlisting Gottheimer's help?

Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who has come under fierce criticism from the left over her handling of the crisis — particularly her decision to deploy the state police, whose aggressive tactics sparked outrage — declined to say whether her administration has leaned on Gottheimer for access to the top of the Department of Homeland Security.

"Governor Sherrill has been working in lockstep with our entire Congressional Delegation, including Congressman Gottheimer, and they have been tremendous partners in both protecting New Jerseyans and ensuring there is accountability and oversight at Delaney Hall," Stephen Sigmund, communications chief for Sherrill, said in a prepared statement.

A DHS spokesman didn't have much to add.

"During his confirmation, the Secretary vowed to be accessible to Congress, work across the aisle when possible, and fight for blue states just as he does red states," the department said in a statement. "Secretary Mullin remains in constant contact with lawmakers, including Gottheimer, to solve problems, advance President Trump’s national security agenda, and keep the homeland safe.”

Social justice advocates, protesters and family members of detainees keeping vigil cite a long list of grievances about the treatment of detainees. They have pointed to inadequate medical care, frozen and worm-mottled food, poor air conditioning and restrictive visitation rights as causes for concern at Delaney Hall. But an underlying complaint is the long, interminable delays for detainees to resolve their deportation cases. They are simply left in limbo without due process. Many advocates believe it is part of a DHS pressure campaign to get fed-up detainees to agree to self-deport.

Some advocates hope that Gottheimer will ask Mullin to alleviate those simmering issues. But Amol Sinha, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Jersey, would seek a more dramatic ask from the Oklahoman: Release everyone who does not pose a threat to the public and allow them to challenge their deportations through the normal channels of due process.

Several independent analyses of the detainee population in Delaney and elsewhere show that the vast majority of detainees have not been convicted of violent crimes — a stubborn statistical reality defying the Trump narrative that Delaney and other centers are teeming with dangerous criminals.

“I don't think it's all that unreasonable for us to say that if 85% of the people who are detained by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] right now are not a threat, they should all be released,” Sinha said. “The public has an interest in maintaining public safety and freedom and maintaining the constitutional rights that have defined this country for 250 years.”

Trump's alternative reality includes Delaney Hall, too

In the once-normal, pre-Trump era, Sinha's request wouldn't have to be made at all. But Trump’s obsession with deportation has been a top priority of his since he rode down the gold escalator at Trump Tower to announce his first campaign for president more than a decade ago. And he has defended his approach by creating and pushing an alternative reality.

Trump says Delaney Hall is filled with dangerous criminals; statistics show the opposite. Advocates, members of Congress and family members call it a dreary, inhumane gulag; Trump’s allies depict it as a cozy Club Med resort.

“They have workout areas with just about every kind of machine that you possibly could have,’’ Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-Cape May, told NJ Spotlight News last week after taking a tour of Delaney. “They have more equipment than the fitness center that I use.”

Trump’s style of spinning a counter-narrative that ignores the factual record has been his signature throughout his career, from his continuing to say the 2020 presidential election was rigged to his claim last week that he was cheered at Madison Square Garden when he was soundly booed before the Knicks' playoff game.

“He’s a television-focused person, meaning he will spin the story that he wants … without any concern about the factual record," said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University historian. Trump's goal, Zelizer says, is to muddy the debate enough so that it confuses or weakens the opposition with doubt.

“I think he also calculates if enough people don't know what to believe, that's in his favor," Zelizer said. “If no one knows really what's going on, then it's easy to say, 'Well, I don't really know what's happening in this detention facility, so what am I going to do?'”

There’s no doubt that Trump’s self-serving propaganda style will be hard to crack. But with so many immigrants imprisoned in this gulag, shorn from their families and their constitutional rights, placing a phone call to a man near the top is one place to start.

Charlie Stile is a veteran New Jersey political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.