The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a new boss: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) was sworn in earlier this week as the next secretary of the agency, and many are questioning how the former senator will run DHS. Mullin’s early tenure will likely be watched with especially close eyes given the recent controversies surrounding DHS and its embattled outgoing leader, former Secretary Kristi Noem.
Mullin takes over as the DHS grapples with a “controversial immigration enforcement effort and an ongoing shutdown,” said CNN. Particular scrutiny has been placed on how the agency utilizes Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers throughout American cities, and many have “demanded changes” to “procedures and tactics following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota.”
While Noem became the face of aggressive ICE tactics, Mullin struck a different tune during his Senate confirmation hearing, where he pledged to make changes at DHS. Mullin pushed to “make it clear that he wants to take a different approach to immigration enforcement than Noem did,” said USA Today, and has “suggested that large urban operations, such as the volatile approach in Minneapolis, would not be a part of his tenure.” He also claimed ICE agents will no longer be allowed to enter homes “without a judicial warrant, another point of controversy under Noem.”
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It remains to be seen whether Mullin’s lack of experience and own set of controversies will work against him. He is not from a border state and never served on any Senate committee with DHS oversight. “If you look at a lot of Trump’s Cabinet secretaries, he doesn’t really go with the most qualified choice at times,” Reese Gorman, a political reporter for NOTUS, said to Vox. President Donald Trump “really tends to pick people who he likes and also just who would give him loyalty.”
What next?
With Mullin pushing for changes at DHS, one of his “first moves is lining up the personnel to help him do it,” said CNN. Mullin is “bringing some of his Senate staff to the department” and has reportedly spoken with Trump “about the people he wanted to bring on.” The president, of whom the new DHS secretary is a staunch supporter, has “expressed complete confidence in Mullin.”
ICE’s recent deployment at U.S. airports and the DHS’ ongoing shutdown, which is now entering its sixth week and causing chaos for air travel, will likely be the Mullin’s first priority. He has also said his “goal as secretary would be to get the department off the front page of the news,” said The Associated Press, even as Mullin himself “has not been seen as a key force in immigration issues.”
Mullin’s confirmation opens up a Senate seat in Oklahoma; the state’s Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, has temporarily appointed energy executive Alan S. Armstrong to take over the chair. His appointment “will not change the balance of power in the Senate, which Republicans control 53-47,” said The Washington Post, and an election for the seat is on the horizon in the upcoming midterms. State law prevents Armstrong from running for the full term.
