Trump allies bring immigration policy to DHS

Sen. Markwayne Mullin does not serve on any committee that has direct authority over immigration or the Department of Homeland Security. But his record on high-profile agency issues suggests he will bring a hard-line approach to his new role at the top of the department.

Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican whom President Donald Trump nominated last week to take the reins of DHS, has waded into the controversial territory of White House immigration policy in recent months. At the same time as President Trump announced Marin as his nominee, he also announced that Kristi Noem would be leaving her post, becoming the first Cabinet member in the president’s second term to do so.

He called Alex Preti, an ICU nurse who was killed by federal immigration agents earlier this year, “mentally insane.” He co-sponsored a bill that would increase penalties for people who resist law enforcement officers or assault them with a vehicle in the wake of the murder of Renee Good at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He has also expressed skepticism about birthright citizenship, a constitutional right that President Trump is trying to abolish.

“I think he’s a serious person,” Laura Reese, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, said in an interview. “It’s going to be about his mission. It’s not going to be about himself.”

Marin’s nomination hearing is expected to begin as early as next Wednesday. If approved by senators, she would replace Noem, who had a controversial tenure at DHS, which includes subordinate agencies such as ICE, Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

If there is no progress in negotiations in the coming weeks, Mr. Marin will be elevated to the top of the agency during a government shutdown. DHS funding expired on February 14, and Democrats have repeatedly voted against bills to restore it, citing concerns about DHS’ immigration enforcement practices.

Given Marin’s support for tough immigration policies and her close relationship with Trump, Democrats don’t expect Noem’s departure to make much progress on their policies.

“He has given no indication that he plans to make the kind of reforms that the American people are demanding,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “We are hopeful that he will reconsider some of his positions as we move through the confirmation process. But there is no factual basis for hope.”

Marin has not yet laid out a detailed plan to take the top job at the department, and must first go through a weeks-long confirmation process with senators.

“We want to make the Department of Homeland Security work for the American people, and that will be our focus,” Mullin told reporters last week after the nomination was announced. “We’re open to new ideas and, like I said, we’re committed to taking on the work that we have to do.”

Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, rancher and owner of his own plumbing business, came to Congress in 2013 on a wave of anti-establishment sentiment, calling himself “not a politician” in campaign ads. He originally promised to serve only three terms, but instead served 10 years in the House before running to fill out the remainder of Sen. Jim Inhofe’s term in 2022.

Marin was friendly and popular on the Hill, and was often seen (and heard) bouncing a rubber ball in the halls of Congress. Mullin, the only senator without a bachelor’s degree, chairs the Legislative Appropriations Subcommittee and serves on the Armed Services Committee, the Indian Affairs Committee, and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees.

Marin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.

He has been a valuable voice for the Trump administration on cable news in recent years and a sometimes punitive presence in the Senate. At a 2023 hearing, Marin challenged union leaders to a fist fight as they testified before the committee.

“Then get your ass up,” Mullin told Teamsters president Sean O’Brien before Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vt.) intervened.

Mullin was selected to take over the DHS role amid intense scrutiny. Public approval ratings for President Trump’s immigration policies declined after the murders of Preti and Good, but those numbers have rebounded slightly in recent days. Noem’s leadership in these cases, as well as her use of taxpayer funds for private jets and expensive advertising campaigns, has raised questions from both sides of the aisle.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing two days before her firing, Sen. Thom Tillis, RN.C., slammed Noem, calling her leadership of DHS a “disaster.”

Democrats and critics of President Trump’s border policies have widely called for Noem’s removal, but most do not expect meaningful changes to occur with Marin at the helm.

Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the nonprofit advocacy group Hispanic Federation, which had called for Noem’s ouster, said Marin would likely be a “yes man.”

“I think he would very much agree with whatever President Trump or the White House says about immigration,” Miranda said in an interview.

Republicans, meanwhile, have highlighted areas where Marin can improve but offer different visions for what his term will look like.

Tillis, who has been a vocal critic of Trump aide Stephen Miller, appeared on CNN and called Mullin “one of the most independent people I’ve ever had the privilege of working with,” and suggested the Oklahoma native would tell Trump aides to “stay in their lane and lead the agency.”

Regarding deportations, Tillis said Marin believes “quality over quantity. We want to go after the most dangerous people, gang members, drug traffickers, murderers, rapists.”

The Republican Main Street Caucus, made up of pragmatic House Republicans, similarly said in a letter to Trump on Monday supporting Mullin that DHS should focus its immigration enforcement efforts on the “worst criminals.”

“Senator Marin has demonstrated a strong commitment to border security,” said the letter, signed by 49 caucus members. “His familiarity with the legislative process and long-standing support for pro-American policies make him well-suited to lead DHS at this critical time. We are confident he will bring the focus and discipline needed to advance our shared priorities.”

Meanwhile, Heritage’s Reese said it’s not enough to focus only on the “worst of the worst” under Noem’s leadership. He said he hopes Mullin will help accelerate DHS’ mass deportation efforts to get more illegal immigrants out of the county.

And Sen. James Lankford, in a post on X on Tuesday, pointed to the need to reform FEMA, which struggled under Noem with budget constraints, layoffs and a long disaster recovery backlog.

Lankford, a fellow Oklahoma Republican, said Mullin “would be a great secretary of Homeland Security.”

“With the most secure border in years, now is the time to build on that progress and continue to make Americans safer,” Lankford wrote, along with a photo of the two Oklahomans laughing together.