Markwayne Mullin, Maga ‘warrior’ and ICE defender, to replace Kristi Noem | Trump administration
Donald Trump has nominated Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin to head the Department of Homeland Security, handing control of the administration’s sweeping immigration and deportation agenda to one of Washington’s toughest voices and combative allies on the issue.
The announcement came Thursday as Trump ousted Kristi Noem after a disastrous week on Capitol Hill in which Republican lawmakers criticized her for a $220 million advertising contract that prominently featured her image. The White House had publicly denied that Trump had endorsed the campaign.
First-term Mullin, 48, spent a decade in the House before winning a special election for an Oklahoma Senate seat in 2022 with the support of Donald Trump. A member of the Cherokee nation studied construction technology rather than completing a four-year degree and widely just sitting senator without a bachelor’s degree.
His record on immigration enforcement closely aligns with Trump’s hardline stance. He co-sponsored the Laken Riley Act, which would require ICE detention of undocumented immigrants accused of burglary or theft until deportation proceedings are completed. He has long defended ICE, criticizing sanctuary city policies as an obstruction of federal law and consistently framing mass deportation as a legal imperative.
He became one of the most visible Republican voices on social media and Sunday shows during Trump’s second term, a reliable and combative surrogate for an administration that values both qualities.
When Democrats sought reforms to immigration enforcement during a dispute over DHS funding earlier this year, Mullin said rejected their positions He appeared on CNN’s State of Union program. “They’re not stopping ICE from doing their job. They’re not stopping Border Patrol from doing their job. This is all political theater,” he said.
The homeland security department has been partially shut down since Feb. 14 after Senate Democrats blocked a funding bill following the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minnesota.
As criticism against the institution increased following the deaths of Pretti and Good in January, Mullin said: I went to social media Saying that he stands by DHS and that “ICE agents are not Disney villains.”
“These Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are red-blooded American patriots doing the tough job of keeping our nation safe,” he wrote.
Perhaps his most striking words came last year on NBC’s Meet the Press, when host Kristen Welker asked what it was. This should happen to babies born on US soil.who are currently protected under the 14th amendment and whose undocumented parents are deported. Mullin described a situation where American-born babies would also be deported, saying they “should go where their parents are.”
“Why not send a child with his parents?” he said. “Why do you want to separate them?”
Mullin’s record away from the Senate floor has also come under scrutiny. In a video sent to He later insisted he was joking.
Before politics, Mullin grew a family plumbing business in Westville, Oklahoma, into a multi-state company worth millions of dollars. Room, According to TapologyA retired professional fighter with a perfect 3-0 record, he last competed at 5ft 8in in April 2007 in Westville, Oklahoma.
he said Roll Call in 2014 He said that he was the youngest of seven children in his family and that his compound name was a mixture of the first names of his two uncles.
Trump said Mullin “will be the United States Secretary of Homeland Security effective March 31, 2026.”
Mullin will be allowed to serve as acting secretary while her nomination is officially pending, but cabinet secretaries require Senate confirmation, which includes committee hearings, financial disclosures, background checks and a floor vote. With less than a month until your self-imposed start date, it can be difficult to meet that timeline.
In nominating her to replace Noem, Trump called Mullin a “Maga warrior” and noted her undefeated MMA career.
“Markwayne really gets along with people and has the wisdom and courage it takes to advance our America First agenda,” Trump wrote. “As the only Native American in the Senate, Markwayne is a great advocate for our incredible tribal communities.”
