Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The US Senate on March 23 confirmed Markwayne Mul lin to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, el evating the Republican senator to a role where he will be among the public faces of Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
The Republican-controlled chamber confirmed Mullin largely along party lines, with a vote of 54-45.
Mullin is set to play a key role in im plementing those policies, which polls show are growing increasingly unpopu lar among the public ahead of the No vember midterms, in which Republicans will be defending their control of the Senate and House of Representatives.
A former House representative who was elected Oklahoma’s junior senator in 2022, Mullin now leads a 260,000-employee department whose sub-agencies include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol.
Among his first tasks is sure to be stepping up efforts to reopen its opera tions, parts of which were shuttered in mid-February, when Democrats reject ed funding legislation for the depart ment because it did not include new guardrails on immigration enforcement operations.
Democrats demanded the restric tions after immigration agents killed two US citizens during a weeks-long in tensive enforcement operation in Min neapolis, and have listed among their demands a ban on officers wearing masks, a requirement that they display identification and adhere to rules on use of force, with all violations inves tigated.
His predecessor Kristi Noem was f ired by Trump reportedly after be coming dissatisfied with her personal appearances in a series of advertise ments for the department.
