Can Markwayne Mullin bring a reset to DHS?

Next Wednesday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., is scheduled to face questions from his fellow senators during his confirmation hearing for secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. President Donald Trump last week said he had picked Mullin to replace outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem. The transition was set to go into effect at the end of the month, the president said.

“A MAGA warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter, Markwayne truly gets along well with people, and knows the wisdom and courage required to advance our America First agenda,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Markwayne will work tirelessly to keep our border secure, stop migrant crime, murderers, and other criminals from illegally entering our country, end the scourge of illegal drugs and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN.”

As for Noem, Trump said she would take a role as special envoy for a new security initiative he called the Shield of the Americas. He added that Noem “has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results.”

Trump’s kind words notwithstanding, DHS under Noem has seen a drop in public support while she spearheaded the president’s immigration agenda. In February 2025, nearly 60% of Americans approved of Trump’s immigration policies, but a year later, public approval has dropped significantly. As Mullin navigates the Senate confirmation process to take over leadership of DHS, immigration policy has become a public relations problem for the administration. The Trump administration likely hopes that Mullin can help clean up the department’s image, and immigration advocates say they are cautiously optimistic that Mullin can bring calm to a fractious issue.

In a statement issued hours after President Trump nominated him to be Homeland Security secretary, Mullin refrained from signaling any revisions to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.

“I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the Senate and carrying out President Trump’s mission alongside the department’s many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day,” Mullin wrote. “President Trump ran on restoring law and order, and he quickly delivered the most secure U.S. border in American history. I look forward to supporting @POTUS’ mission to safeguard the American people and defend the homeland.”

While Mullin hasn’t yet signaled any policy revisions, the Trump administration at large seems to be shifting its posture on immigration. Relying on anonymous sources in and around DHS, CNN reported last month that the Trump administration is trying a different approach to immigration enforcement following public pushback in Minnesota, where two U.S. citizens died at the hands of DHS agents in January. The agency reportedly planned to shift to very targeted operations backed by rigorous advanced planning, moving away from sweeping operations in which agents aggressively pulled individuals off the street.

The change comes as a majority of Americans oppose the administration’s immigration agenda. An NBC News poll conducted between Feb. 27 and March 3 showed that 54% of Americans disapproved of Trump’s immigration policies, while only 44% approved of them. A Fox News poll showed similar numbers, saying that 53% of Americans disapproved while 47% approved. Even in staunchly conservative states, Trump’s immigration policies have become unpopular. A University of North Florida poll of likely midterm voters in the state showed that 49% of respondents disapproved of Trump’s immigration policies, while 55% disapproved of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s recent actions.

Senate Democrats, riding the wave of public opposition to Trump’s policies as they continue to hold hostage funding for much of DHS, have seen Mullin’s upcoming confirmation as an opportunity to implement larger reforms.

“I’ve been asked if I would support Sen. Mullin as Noem’s replacement. The answer is a resounding NO. The rot in DHS is deep, much deeper than any individual,” Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a social media statement last week. “It’s a question of policy not personnel. The Senate should not consider any DHS Secretary nominee until DHS and ICE are reined in.”

Other Democratic senators, such as Cory Booker of New Jersey, Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Hickenlooper of Colorado, and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, have added their voices to that chorus. Senate Democrats almost universally applauded Noem’s ouster, with many emphasizing that more than just a personnel change at the top is needed to address what they see as systemic issues within DHS. Much of the agency has gone without funding for nearly a month as Democrats demand concessions from the administration and its allies on how immigration operations are conducted.

The public and political backlash is a result of Noem’s style of leadership at DHS over the past year, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies. Noem often put herself front and center in DHS’ social media timeline and public relations, Vaughan said. “To me, the one thing that really stuck out as a huge mistake was her trip down to El Salvador to film herself in the … supermax-type gang prison,” she said.

But that wasn’t the only slipup, Vaughan noted. “There were the problems of these in-your-face operations in Chicago and Minneapolis, which really backfired,” she said. “Not only in making things more difficult for ICE, and more dangerous for ICE, but also causing political problems to the point where now we have a government shutdown, and Democrats in the Senate are blowing up, potentially, the appropriations bill for DHS.”

The House Homeland Security Committee as of Thursday was scrutinizing a $220 million publicity campaign that was approved at DHS during the tenure of Noem and her former adviser, Corey Lewandowski, according to the New York Post. Noem has faced scrutiny over her relationship with Lewandowski, and the two have denied allegations of an affair. The Post cited anonymous “White House insiders” as saying Trump decided to fire Noem after she declined to directly deny the existence of an affair in her response to a lawmaker’s question during a House hearing.

Mullin’s nomination could provide an opportunity for DHS to take a more out-of-the-limelight approach to immigration enforcement, Vaughan said. But whether he will take such an approach remains to be seen.

“It’s so hard to have a reaction on this … because he is an unknown on immigration issues to a great extent,” Vaughan said. “But Kristi Noem also didn’t have a lot of experience, was not a person who’d been deeply involved in it for a long time.”

Refugee advocates have expressed some optimism that Mullin will bring a calmer and more humane approach to immigration at DHS.

“We’ve worked with Sen. Mullin for the whole time he’s been in the Senate,” said Hannah Daniel, director of government relations at World Relief. “And he really has been someone that I feel like we’ve had a constructive relationship with.”

Daniel applauded Mullin’s move to co-sponsor the Afghan Adjustment Act in 2023. “We want to be hopeful that this could be a fresh start and an opportunity for DHS to really rebuild trust that was lost over the last year,” she said.

But she acknowledged that immigration advocates still have unanswered questions about how Mullin will conduct his work.

“We always have a level of skepticism anytime these things happen,” Daniel said. “I think especially as Christians—and I know that’s something that Sen. Mullin shares as well—we want to believe that this could be kind of a turning point, but we always have to wait and see what happens.”

Sen. Mullin’s office declined to speak with WORLD about his plans for DHS. It directed questions about policy updates to the White House.

“Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson. “President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities. … Thanks to President Trump’s strong immigration enforcement policies, approximately 3 million illegals have left the United States, either through forced deportation or self-deportation, with zero illegals coming through the most secure border in U.S. History for nine straight months.”

DHS did not respond to a request for comment about Mullin’s nomination.

Vaughan said that DHS’ mission is essential at this moment in U.S. history, arguing that security threats and illegal immigration are at high levels.

“It’s most important for Americans to understand that this change in personnel is likely to bring a more focused and professional approach to the missions of the DHS agencies,” Vaughan said. “And that the best approach for Mullin to have would be to try to stay out of the limelight while continuing what has been successful so far.”