President Donald Trump on Thursday introduced he was ousting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and that GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma would replace her.
Mullin, a first-term senator who has served in that function since 2023, is a former mixed-martial artist and enterprise proprietor who is a powerful supporter of Trump’s hardline immigration coverage.
An enrolled member of Cherokee Nation, Mullin is the primary tribal citizen to serve within the US Senate in almost 20 years.
He will inherit an company that is an integral cornerstone to Trump’s home coverage agenda – probably the most well-funded federal regulation enforcement company within the nation and one which has come underneath intense scrutiny in the course of the first yr of Trump’s second time period for the way it has carried out itself.
Here’s what to learn about Mullin:
Shortly after Trump introduced his intention to have Mullin serve as Homeland Security secretary, Mullin stated his focus could be to “keep the homeland secure.”
“There’s a lot of work we can do to get the Department of Homeland Security working for the American people,” Mullin stated. “The Department of Homeland Security has a very broad jurisdiction, and I think there’s a lot of work that we need to do and I’m excited about it.”
His previous public feedback have proven that he is intently aligned with Trump’s agenda.
Following a Supreme Court decision final yr that was intertwined with Trump’s government order ending birthright citizenship, Mullin stated on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that infants born within the US to undocumented dad and mom must also be expelled from the nation – framing that place as a need to preserve the youngsters with their dad and mom.
“Why wouldn’t you send a child with their parents?” he informed NBC’s Kristen Welker, “I mean, why would you want to separate them?”
He accused some immigrants who come to the US and have kids of being a part of an “industry” that seeks to recreation the system.
“‘There’s a whole industry that stood up to bring people here in their last month of pregnancy to have a child here, and they come here on a vacation visa, and they have a child so their child will be able to be US citizens,” he stated.
In an interview with CNBC final month, Mullin stated everybody ought to carry proof of citizenship in case they’re stopped and questioned by regulation enforcement: “There’s nothing to hide if you’re here legally,” he stated.
Mullin defended the deadly shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis by the hands of federal immigration officers earlier this yr.
Shortly after Good was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Mullin stated the officer “didn’t have an option” however to “engage” Good, who was driving a car that he stated ought to be seen as a lethal weapon.
Mullin wrestled in college and fought briefly as knowledgeable blended martial artist.
He has taken his fighter’s spirit to Capitol Hill. During his time within the House, Mullin was well-known for his intense, MMA-style exercises that he used to run for different members of Congress.
Mullin was serving within the House in the course of the January 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol and assisted officers in barricading the doorways to the House flooring. He later stated he informed the rioters he would cope with them bodily in the event that they broke by.
Years later, as Trump mulled about the potential for pardoning the rioters, Mullin urged Trump to “look at the facts before he does something” and stated that anybody who attacked police wanted “to pay for that, without question.”
Trump pardoned them anyway. After these pardons, Mullin stated on NCS there was “no question” the siege of the Capitol was a “riot” and a “horrible day.”
But he added: “However, the American people have chose to move on” by electing Trump despite his marketing campaign path discussions about pardoning the rioters.
During a 2023 Senate listening to, Mullin challenged a witness, Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien, to a battle. The pair had a historical past of testy exchanges.
Sen. Mullin challenges Teamsters CEO to battle throughout listening to
He later informed NCS {that a} return to bodily violence might assist treatment individuals whom he described as “keyboard warriors” who “go out there and run their mouth all the time, and then they don’t ever have to face the consequences.”
Trump announcement of Mullin’s ascension to DHS secretary was considerably imprecise. Noem stated her final day could be March 31, 2026, and the president stated Mullin “will become” DHS secretary that very same day.
But that’s not Trump’s determination to make as a result of the place requires Senate affirmation.
If Mullin is not confirmed by March 31, the place would want to be stuffed by an appearing secretary. But that may’t be Mullin “for a couple of reasons,” stated Thomas Berry, the director of the Cato Institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies who has written extensively about presidential appointments.
The regulation requires somebody to have another job within the government department earlier than they will grow to be the appearing secretary of an company. Mullin can’t do this as a result of he’s at the moment serving within the Senate.
“The only way he could become an acting is if he resigned his Senate seat first, got a new job in the administration, got some non-Senate-confirmed position, and then potentially you could try a maneuver to make him the acting,” he stated.
But Berry added that transfer could be legally doubtful due to earlier litigation after related maneuvers have been tried.
In the case the place March 31 passes and Mullin is not confirmed, the regulation requires the deputy secretary of DHS to grow to be the appearing secretary. The White House appears assured that Mullin would have the ability to be confirmed earlier than then.
There’s additionally the case of Mullin’s Senate seat. Once he resigns, Oklahoma regulation provides Gov. Kevin Stitt 30 days to appoint a alternative. Since Mullin is a Republican, his alternative would have to have been a registered Republican for not less than 5 years. The appointee would even be required to submit an oath that they won’t run for the seat when it comes up for election.
Because Mullin is scheduled to be up for reelection in November, there gained’t be a separate particular election.
Instead, the winner of November’s election will likely be eligible to take workplace as soon as the outcomes are finalized.
NCS’s Ethan Cohen, Morgan Rimmer, Lauren Fox and Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.