The Senate confirmed Senator Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.) as secretary of homeland security on Monday evening, ending outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem's scandal-plagued tenure atop the department charged with carrying out President Trump's immigration enforcement agenda.
Senators Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania were the only Democrats to join Republicans in advancing his nomination, bringing the final tally to 54 in favor and 45 opposed. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs Chairman Rand Paul, a longtime adversary of Mullin’s who tangled with him during his confirmation hearing, was the only Republican to oppose his nomination.
"My goal in six months is that we're not in the lead story every day," Mullin said during his confirmation hearing. "My goal is for people to understand we're out there. We're protecting them, and we're working with them."
The 48-year-old lawmaker is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation. The close Trump ally formerly served in the U.S. House after a brief stint as a mixed martial arts fighter and a long career in the private sector. Mullin is a married father of six children and is a member of the Senate GOP's deputy whip team.
The Oklahoma senator's confirmation comes at a politically perilous time for the department. Republicans in the White House and on Capitol Hill have been locked in a weeks-long standoff with congressional Democrats over how to fund the partially shut down agency.
The DHS shutdown began in early February, when Democrats demanded an overhaul of the department's immigration officer protocols in protest of the two immigration officer–involved fatal shootings in Minneapolis earlier this year. The funding lapse is squeezing TSA staffing at airports nationwide and raising concerns on Capitol Hill that the department tasked with protecting the homeland is ill prepared to stave off the risk of sleeper cell attacks amid war with Iran.
Mullin's confirmation means that Noem will now transition to a new role called the special envoy to the Shield of Americas.
Widespread suspicions in Washington that Noem and her top aide and alleged paramour, Corey Lewandowski, have been steering DHS contracts to political allies certainly didn't help her standing in Trump world, nor did her constant bickering behind the scenes with other senior members of Trump's immigration enforcement team. Noem and Lewandowski, both of whom are married to other people, have denied playing a role in the contract process and have denied the affair allegations. In the end, Noem’s undoing was prompted by Trump's private fury with her Senate Judiciary Committee testimony that he greenlit the department's $220 million self-deportation ad campaign that featured her prominently.
Republicans in the administration and on Capitol Hill are anxiously awaiting how Mullin will shake things up on the staffing and contract approval front after Noem, whose year leading the department was rocked by infighting with senior DHS officials, a botched public relations response to the Minneapolis shootings, and a slow contract approval process that required Noem's sign-off for any contract above $100,000.
"That's called micromanaging," Mullin said in his confirmation hearing of the $100,000 contract approval rule. "And I don't know if the secretary put that in or someone else did. I'm not a micromanager."
Other protocol changes are likely under Mullin’s tenure. Discussions are already underway among senior DHS officials about nixing a planned acquisition of a controversial luxury jet that the department is currently leasing and that Noem had privately used before her ouster, National Review reported earlier this month.
While staffing changes are also expected inside DHS in the wake of Noem's departure, Mullin might kick off his tenure with a familiar face inside the department as his second in command. As National Review reported over the weekend, Mullin's preferred pick for deputy DHS secretary is Troy Edgar, who served in the role under Noem and was tapped by Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to El Salvador in December.
Edgar cleared his Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote earlier this month, and his nomination is currently sitting with the executive committee, though that could change if Trump taps him to serve as deputy DHS secretary again under Mullin
Mullin will take the reins as Republicans in the White House and on Capitol Hill are brainstorming how to sell their immigration agenda. Once President Trump's best issue, immigration enforcement has lagged in the polls as Americans continue to sour on federal immigration officers' deportation tactics, even as criminal deportations remain popular and voters approve of Trump's crackdown on illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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