The Senate has voted to confirm Markwayne Mullin, the senator from Oklahoma, as the new secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The upper chamber voted to confirm Mullin 54 to 45 on Monday evening. Two Democrats, Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., joined 52 Republicans by voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead DHS.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to vote “no.” Paul is the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and had previously made his objections to Mullin’s nomination known at the committee’s confirmation hearing.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., didn’t vote.
Trump chose Mullin to lead the department just minutes after the White House announced former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was leaving the post.
Mullin will now lead an agency that has been shut down since Feb. 14. Senate Democrats refused to fund the department over unmet demands to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Democrat demands include requiring agents to obtain a judicial warrant before apprehending suspects, limiting immigration enforcement near polling locations, and prohibiting ICE agents from wearing masks.
During his confirmation hearing, Mullin signaled that he would be willing to make reforms to the agency if confirmed.
“Judicial warrants will be used to go into houses, into places of business, unless we’re pursuing someone who enters that place,” Mullin said. “I have not mixed words with that, and I haven’t changed my opinion about that.”
While some Republicans believe that Noem’s departure could make it easier to reopen DHS, Democrats have not budged on their demands.
