Markwayne Mullin confirmed as the next DHS Secretary - Abolish Capital!

[https://i0.wp.com/ictnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Mullin-nomination-hearing-scaled.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&quality=89&ssl=1] ICT Staff WASHINGTON — A Native American will lead the Department of Homeland Security for the first time in American history. The U.S. Senate confirmed in a 54-45 vote Monday evening that Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Cherokee, will be the 9th Secretary of Homeland Security. This makes Mullin the second Native American to lead a cabinet agency and the third Native person to be in the president’s cabinet. He follows in the footsteps of previous Native Americans in the presidential cabinet: former Vice President Charles Curtis, Kaw Nation, under former President Herbert Hoover and former U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland, Laguna Pueblo, under the Biden administration for four years. Mullin, Republican, became the first Native American man to serve in the U.S. Senate since the late Ben Knighthorse Campbell, who served as Colorado’s senator from 1993 to 2005. He will lead the third largest cabinet department of more than 260,000 employees. It was established in 2002 as a cabinet-level agency after the 9/11 attacks. The Homeland Security Act by Congress combined 22 federal departments and agencies to “safeguard the country against terrorism and respond to any future attacks.” These 22 departments under DHS include: Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Secret Service and more [https://www.dhs.gov/who-joined-dhs]. Mullin’s nomination has impacted politics in Oklahoma. With an empty Senate seat, Gov. Kevin Stitt, Cherokee, will be appointing someone to fill that seat until the special election takes place later this year. It’s been reported that Stitt is likely to nominate Alan Armstrong who is chairman of an oil and gas company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. U.S. Rep. Kevin Hern, OK-1, previously announced that he would be running for the open Senate seat. In the past T.W. Shannon, Chickasaw, has run for open Senate seats in Oklahoma. Political pundit Mike Stopp, Cherokee, speculated that Shannon might run for the open Senate seat. However, he continues to campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s congressional district 1 is essentially the city of Tulsa. The district also includes the intersection of Osage, Cherokee and Muscogee tribal lands. In 2024, Democratic candidate Dennis Baker, Euchee and Muscogee, faced Hern in the general election. Hern won with 60 percent of the votes. A Democratic challenge would be difficult in the solidly Republican district. Hern had no Republican opponents in the last two primary elections. His choice to run for the Senate opens up this race for a new Republican candidate. While the confirmation vote was largely along party-lines, two Democratic senators voted to confirm Mullin, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. “This is going to surprise some people, but I consider Markwayne Mullin a friend. We have a very honest and constructive working relationship. We have authored legislation together, such as the Tribal Buffalo Management Act, and we crafted the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill together this year. We often disagree and when we do, we work to find whatever common ground we share,” Heinrich said in a press release on Sunday. Republican Sen. Rand Paul, from Kentucky, voted against Mullin’s nomination at both the committee hearing and full Senate vote. Later saying that Mullin has anger issues. After Mullin’s nomination, Haaland told ICT she hopes “he can bring some calm” after what has been happening in the country for the last several months. She also hopes he implements “what our ancestors have taught us,” including “to respect people, to be kind, all of those things. I hope that that will happen and I’m sure it will under his leadership,” she said. Mullin has tried to make the case that he would be a steady hand after the tumultuous tenure of Kristi Noem, Trump’s first DHS secretary. Mullin’s predecessor In both roles as South Dakota governor and DHS secretary, Noem has maintained a complicated and often tumultuous relationship with tribal nations. She was banned from entering every single one of the nine reservations in South Dakota in 2024. She has since been unbanished by at least two of the state’s nine tribes. As DHS Secretary, Noem continued to spark controversy with tribal leaders as immigration agents raided cities across America and on multiple occasions swept up citizens and descendants of federally recognized tribes. Several tribes passed resolutions to ban immigration agents from their lands following this controversy. In March, Noem testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee concerning Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. Noem reported that only 18 Americans have been detained by ICE, a claim that senators pushed back on, referencing a ProPublica report prior to Operation Metro Surge that detailed more than 100 Americans who had been detained. Noem’s departure from DHS secretary was announced shortly after her senate hearing concluded. Cleaning up Mullin has quite a list of DHS issues to tackle after he is sworn into office which includes immigration enforcement, the department’s funding, and Transportation Security Administration. Trump made clear on Sunday that he was going ahead with the plan to have immigration enforcement officers assist TSA by guarding exit lanes or checking passenger IDs unless Democrats agreed to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats are demanding major changes to federal immigration operations and show no signs of backing down. Hundreds of thousands of homeland security workers, including from the TSA, U.S. Secret Service and Coast Guard, have worked without pay since Congress failed to renew DHS funding last month. “Bad idea,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, about the new airport security plan, which Trump said would start Monday. “What we need to do is, we need to get the DHS issues resolved, we need to get the TSA agents paid,” she told reporters at the Capitol, where the Senate held a rare weekend session. “Do you really want to have even additional tensions on top of what we are already facing?” Mullin’s swearing-in ceremony has yet to be announced. This is a developing story. Follow ICT for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The post Markwayne Mullin confirmed as the next DHS Secretary [https://ictnews.org/news/markwayne-mullin-confirmed-as-the-next-dhs-secretary/] appeared first on ICT [https://ictnews.org/]. — From ICT [https://ictnews.org/feed] via This RSS Feed [https://ictnews.org/feed].