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On Monday, the Senate confirmed Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma as the new head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), following President Trump’s decision to remove his initial Cabinet pick.
Mullin’s nomination received bipartisan backing, with two Democrats joining their Republican counterparts to secure his confirmation in a 54-45 vote.
The Senate expedited Mullin’s appointment, with the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee moving his nomination forward just a day after a heated hearing. During this session, Chair Rand Paul from Kentucky sharply criticized him. The vote on the Senate floor followed less than a week later.
Mullin steps into the DHS leadership role amid turmoil, as the department grapples with a shutdown. The Senate and the White House remain at an impasse over proposed changes to immigration enforcement policies.
As the shutdown extends into its sixth week, President Trump has deployed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to airports, asserting that their presence will support Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff in managing the increasing security checkpoint delays.
Mullin was largely rejected by Democrats, who, alongside Paul, argued he did not have the temperament to lead the department, noting not only his support for the neighbor who violently attacked Paul but his threat to fight Teamsters leader Sean O’Brien during a hearing.
Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.), the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, voted against advancing Mullin, saying the senator “showed that he doesn’t have the experience or the temperament to lead this critical department.”
“I’m very troubled by Senator Mullin’s willingness to condone political violence and the message that that sends across DHS, and we’re not talking about an isolated lapse in judgment after Senator Mullin attempted to physically fight a witness at a Senate hearing in 2023,” he said Thursday.
Paul, the Republican chair of the panel, last week also pointed to Mullin’s failure to apologize for past comments but said the violent streak is his top concern.
“I think there are anger issues. I think there’s a lack of contrition, both about the violence that was perpetrated on me, really the violent episode he was involved in the Senate committee where he’s told the media, frankly, that he doesn’t regret it,” Paul said.
“We shouldn’t settle personal questions with violence, I think that would be a terrible example for ICE and for our Border Patrol agents.”
Others who rejected Mullin called him inexperienced while arguing he represented no real change in how the Trump administration could approach immigration enforcement.
“Senator Mullin has no relevant experience, and I’m concerned he’ll be a rubber stamp to President Trump and Stephen Miller and run a DHS that is not fundamentally different from Secretary Noem’s. Americans cannot afford more of the same abuses of power,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto wrote on the social platform X.
In addition to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who expressed support for Mullin shortly after Trump nominated him earlier this month, Mullin also earned the backing of Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).
“This is going to surprise some people, but I consider Markwayne Mullin a friend. We have a very honest and constructive working relationship,” Heinrich said in a Sunday statement, noting the two have co-sponsored bills together.
Heinrich said under Trump he has been unable to have much of a relationship with DHS leadership.
“I want someone who recognizes the necessity of judicial warrants, as he has. I would like a Secretary who I can call and have a constructive conversation with about my state and the unique terrain that exists in the southwest and the proper mix of structure, technology and personnel necessary to effectively secure our border,” he said.
“I have also seen first-hand that Markwayne is not someone who can simply be bullied into changing his views, and I look forward to having a secretary who doesn’t take their orders from Stephen Miller.”
For his part, Mullin has made some public commitments to running DHS differently from his predecessor, Kristi Noem.
Mullin said he plans to abandon Noem’s policy of requiring the secretary to sign off on any expense of more than $100,000, a dynamic that delayed payments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
As cited by Heinrich, Mullin seemed to endorse the concept of ICE needing a judicial warrant to arrest and deport someone, rather than the DHS-issued administrative warrant the department has used in some instances. He also said he had not been given a deportation quota.
“I have made it very clear to the staff, and I think when you and I spoke, that a judicial warrant will be used to go into houses, in a place of businesses, unless we’re pursuing someone that enters in that place,” Mullin said during his hearing.
As for how he would like to see immigration policy changed, Mullin said only that he’d like to see more cooperation with local law enforcement, where they would turn over to ICE anyone who had been removed.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also called on Mullin to work with DHS’s inspector general after he complained Noem was systematically obstructing his work, encouraging him to also be more communicative with Congress.
“My advice to him is be transparent and responsive to the American people. Answer our letters. Protect whistleblowers. Hear whistleblowers out,” Grassley said.
“There’s no way a secretary can know what’s going on in the bowels of the department. And that’s why, when people come to you saying things aren’t right, money’s not being spent right, the law’s not being followed — listen to them.”