The Senate on Monday confirmed Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

The Oklahoma Republican was chosen by President Donald Trump earlier this month to replace Kristi Noem, who attracted a flurry of scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans alike for her leadership of the department and her use of taxpayer dollars.

The Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Mullin.

“My goal in six months is that we’re not the lead story every single day. My goal is for people to understand we’re out there, we’re protecting them and we’re working with them,” Mullin said last week at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Two Democrats — Sens. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico — voted with most Senate Republicans in favor of Mullin’s appointment. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who publicly feuded with Mullin at his confirmation hearing, was the lone Republican to vote no.

Mullin now takes over a DHS that’s shut down as Democrats continue to withhold support for a funding package over concerns about immigration enforcement policies. Trump, meanwhile, is trying to jam through an unrelated voter-ID bill and has told Republicans to hold off on a DHS funding deal with Democrats until the SAVE America Act is passed.

Funding lapsed for the agency in February, the month after federal immigration agents in Minneapolis killed two U.S. citizens during an enforcement surge.

Mullin is generally well-regarded by his Senate colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and at his confirmation hearing he signaled he was open to shifting the direction of the agency.

He told the panel he would require immigration agents to obtain judicial warrants to enter private property and said he would like to see ICE become a “transport more than the front line” in immigration enforcement.

“This is going to surprise some people, but I consider Markwayne Mullin a friend. We have a very honest and constructive working relationship,” Heinrich said in a statement on Sunday after supporting Mullin in a procedural vote.

“I have also seen firsthand that Markwayne is not someone who can simply be bullied into changing his views, and I look forward to having a secretary who doesn’t take their orders from Stephen Miller,” Heinrich continued, referring to the White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security advisor, whom Democrats say called the shots during Noem’s tenure.

Despite the cross-party camaraderie, many Democrats on the Senate panel pressed Mullin on his close ties to Trump, his hard-line stances on immigration and a trip he said he took abroad while a member of the House that he said was “classified.”

Mullin also got in a spat with the committee chair Paul, whom the Trump nominee recently called a “freaking snake.” Before earning the DHS nomination, Mullin also reportedly said he could “understand” why Paul’s neighbor assaulted the Kentucky Republican in 2017.

Mullin did not apologize when confronted by Paul in the hearing room.

“I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force,” Paul said.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, the nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, said he would require judicial warrants for federal immigration agents to enter private homes or businesses, signaling a potential policy shift from his predecessor Kristi Noem.

“We will not enter a home or a place of business without a judicial warrant, unless we’re pursuing the individual that runs into a place of business or a house,” Mullin, R-Okla., said at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday when asked about an internal Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo that allowed for warrantless arrest and entry.

He also told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he doesn’t plan to send DHS law enforcement to polling places, following President Donald Trump’s call last month to “nationalize” elections.

“The only reason why my officers would be there is if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation,” Mullin said.

Mullin’s appearance Wednesday was the first of two this week before the panel chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Trump tapped Mullin, a close congressional ally of the president, to lead DHS earlier this month after firing Noem, who was mired in controversy.

The hearing got off to a tense start when Paul called Mullin out on comments he had made about Paul. In February, it was reported that Mullin called the Kentucky Republican a “freaking snake” and suggested he understands why a neighbor of Paul’s attacked him in 2017.

“I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force,” Paul said.

“Tell me to my face why you think I deserved it,” Paul continued. “And while you’re at it, explain to the American public why they should trust a man with anger issues to set the proper example for ICE and Border Patrol agents.”

Mullin, in response, did not strike a conciliatory tone.

“We just don’t get along. However, sir, that doesn’t keep me at all from doing my job,” Mullin told Paul. “I can have different opinions with everybody in this room, but as secretary of Homeland, I’ll be protecting everybody.”

“The record should show, and I think will show, a lack of contrition, no apology, and no regrets for your support, you completely understand the violence that was perpetrated on me,” Paul said.

Republicans have an 8-7 edge on the committee and Mullin needs a simple majority to advance to the full Senate. Paul told reporters after the hearing that he would not vote for Mullin, according to MS Now. A “no” from Paul complicates his candidacy, though Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., has said he would vote in support of Mullin. The committee is slated to vote on Mullin’s nomination on Thursday.

Mullin is a hard-liner who has endorsed the Trump administration’s immigration policies. He is seeking to lead an agency currently shut down amid Democratic concerns about its immigration enforcement policies. Senate Democrats and the White House are continuing to negotiate a funding agreement for DHS.

A former MMA fighter, rancher and owner of his own plumbing business, Mullin came to the House in 2013 riding an anti-establishment wave. He became a senator in 2023 and has become known on the Hill for building strong relationships with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

On Wednesday he was flanked by former Republican and Democratic House colleagues, including former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, the moderate New Jersey Democrat.

Seated directly behind Mullin was Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, the union leader with whom Mullin nearly got into a physical altercation during a Senate hearing in 2023. The pair have since become friends, according to Mullin.

“He is somebody who has the rare gift of bringing people together on both sides of the aisle,” said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.

But those strong, bipartisan relationships did not spare Mullin from tough questions from the panel’s Democrats, who have been sharply critical of Trump’s mass deportation policies and liberal deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal immigration agents.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the top Democrat on the committee, questioned Mullin about his response to the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both of whom were killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. Before an investigation played out, Mullin called Pretti, a federal employee ICU nurse, a “deranged individual,” echoing claims made by Noem in the immediate aftermath of the killing.

“Could we expect those kinds of quick responses if you are confirmed as secretary? Peters asked.

“Those words probably should have been retracted. I shouldn’t have said that, and as secretary I wouldn’t. The investigation is ongoing,” Mullins said. “There’s sometimes I’m going to make a mistake and I own it. That one, I went out there too fast.”

Peters also grilled Mullin, who has never served in the military, about recent comments he made after the start of the war in Iran.

“War is ugly. It smells bad. And if anybody has ever been there and been able to smell the war that’s happening around you and taste it, and feel it in your nostrils, and hear it, it’s something that you’ll never forget. And it’s ugly,” Mullin told Fox News.

In response to Peters’ questions about his firsthand experience overseas, Mullin referred to “classified” official trips while he was a member of the House.

“In 2015, I was asked to train with a very small contingency and go to a certain area,” Mullin said. “During that time, I was asked to go through, had to meet certain training qualifications,” Mullin said.

“Where did you smell war, sir?” Peters continued.

Mullin said he’s “never spoken specifically” about the details of the trip. Paul and Peters requested a classified briefing following the hearing to get more information about the stint overseas.

Some Democratic critics of DHS have said since Mullin was tapped that a change in leadership would do little to alter policy as long as Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and homeland security advisor, holds sway. And Mullin did not diverge greatly from the administration when questioned about specific points of immigration policy.

Asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., about ICE arrests quotas, Mullin said: “No quota has been set for me sir. … The president of the United States sets the policies and I’ll be working with the president.”

The top Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees are calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether departing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lied under oath before Congress.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the ranking member on the Senate panel, and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House committee, sent a referral to Bondi on Monday saying Noem may have violated statues prohibiting perjury and making false statements to Congress when she appeared before their committees on March 3 and March 4.

“A number of her statements appear to violate criminal statutes prohibiting perjury and knowingly making false statements to Congress,” the lawmakers wrote, focusing on her remarks that the department hadn’t violated court orders related to its immigration enforcement.

President Donald Trump fired Noem earlier this month after her testimony and tapped Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to replace her. Mullin will need to be confirmed by his Senate colleagues before taking over DHS and will appear before the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

“Any claim that Secretary Noem committed perjury are categorically FALSE,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said via email on Monday.

According to Durbin and Raskin, Noem falsely claimed on multiple occasions that DHS had not violated any court orders.

“Those statements were false. DHS has repeatedly defied court orders to release individuals from ICE detention and has even failed to release individuals for days or weeks after a court-ordered date,” they wrote.

They also said she made false claims about the bidding process for a DHS contract on a $220 million television ad campaign, about the detention of U.S. citizens and detention conditions.

Members of Congress and committees can make criminal referrals to the Department of Justice outlining evidence of alleged crimes. But such communications don’t compel the DOJ to investigate.

“While we have low expectations that you will pursue this matter given your partisan weaponization of the Department of Justice, we note that the statute of limitations for perjury and for knowingly and willfully making false statements to Congress is five years,” the lawmakers wrote.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from that post and replacing her with Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican.

Noem’s dismissal from the Department of Homeland Security comes after a wave of criticism of the former South Dakota governor’s management of the agency and her aggressive handling of Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda, which saw two American citizens killed by federal agents in Minnesota in January.

She is the first Cabinet secretary to be fired by Trump in his second term in the White House, which has been relatively quiet in turnover of top positions, in stark contrast to his first term.

Noem had been rumored to be on thin ice with the president, who likes to call the shots. Noem has been a headline name for the first year of the second Trump administration and has been a particular object of Democratic criticism. Trump fired her after a bruising hearing earlier this week when Republicans also piled on.

Trump announced Noem’s termination in a post on Truth Social, saying “The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida.”

“I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland,’ ” added Trump, who plans to host like-minded Western Hemisphere leaders over the weekend to announce the security alliance.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., during a hearing Tuesday where Noem was testifying, called her leadership of DHS a “disaster.”

“We’re an exceptional nation,” Tillis told her that day. “And one of the reasons we’re exceptional is we expect exceptional leadership. And you have demonstrated anything but that.”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., questioned Noem about a $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign about DHS border security, which included a Republican consulting firm with ties to Noem and DHS. The commercials prominently feature Noem, who, in some footage, is shown on horseback with Mount Rushmore in the background.

“Well, they were effective in your name recognition,” Kennedy said, after Noem defended the ads as being “extremely effective.

“It troubles me,” Kennedy said. ‘A fifth to a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayer money when we’re scratching over every penny.”

Asked if Trump knew Noem was going to do the ad campaign, Noem testified, “Yes.”

But on Thursday, Trump told the Reuters news agency, “I never knew anything about it.”

At a hearing on Wednesday by the House Judiciary Committee, Noem, who is married, was asked if she had ever had sex with her top advisor, Corey Lewandowski, who is also married.

She refused to answer, calling the question “tabloid garbage.”

Noem, moments after her firing was announced, kept a speaking engagement in Nashville at the Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference. She spoke calmly from behind a podium, taking questions about law enforcement logistics from a live audience and did not address her termination.

Noem did not address her ouster, nor did audience members who asked questions about DHS contracts and other more mundane matters. Trump spoke with her by phone before she took the stage, MS NOW reported. After the speech, she thanked Trump for her new special envoy role in a post on X.

Mullin would have to be confirmed as DHS secretary by the Senate to officially serve. But Trump said Mullin would begin serving in that post on March 31. Trump also could put Mullin in place in an acting capacity.

Tillis, who on Tuesday pledged to hold up Trump nominees over his concerns about how DHS was being run, won’t stand in the way of Mullin’s nomination, according to his office.

Mullin told reporters at the Capitol, “It’s an honor to be nominated.” He said he had also just received the news.

“We’re excited about it, excited to get to work, but we still got the nomination process,” Mullin said.

“We’re wanting to get the Department of Homeland Security working for the American people, and that’s going to be our focus,” he said. “And so we’re open to new ideas, doing things that, as I said, takes care of the job we need to get done.”

Mullin was elected in a special election to serve the remainder of the late Sen. Jim Inhofe’s, R-Okla., term, who retired mid-term in 2023.

He served in the House before his election to the Senate and was first elected in 2012. During his Senate tenure, Mullin has been a steadfast Trump ally and a top communicator for the Republican caucus. Mullin frequently holds court with reporters in the Senate hallways and is a regular on network television shows and cable news.

Mullin rose to greater prominence during negotiations over the massive 2025 Republican tax cut and spending bill known as “one big beautiful bill.” He served as an informal liaison between the House and the Senate during negotiations, helping to relay concerns between the chambers that are often at odds.

Mullin backed Senate Majority Leader John Thune in the race for the top job in the Senate. He is likely to get broad support from Republican senators and has already gained one Democratic supporter in Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. Senators tend to have an easier time during the Senate confirmation process, where they are voted on by their colleagues.

Democrats responded positively to Noem’s dismissal. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters after Trump’s announcement, “Good riddance,” referring to Noem.

Jeffries, referring to Mullin, said, “I don’t have a comment right now on what’s to come.”

“A change in personnel is not sufficient,” he added. “Kristi Noem was a disgrace.”

Trump, in his social media post Thursday, lauded Mullin, calling him “a MAGA Warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter” who “truly gets along well with people, and knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Advance our America First Agenda.”

“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,” Trump said. “Markwayne will make a spectacular Secretary of Homeland Security.”

— CNBC’s Caleigh Keating, Justin Papp and Emily Wilkins contributed to this article.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., lashed out at Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday, calling her leadership of the agency a “disaster.”

“We’re an exceptional nation. And one of the reasons we’re exceptional is we expect exceptional leadership. And you have demonstrated anything but that,” said Tillis, who has previously called on Noem to resign. He struck out at Noem for her handling of disaster response and the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, among other things.

“What we’ve seen is innocent people getting detained that turned out are American citizens,” Tillis said in a roughly 10-minute diatribe that included references to passages from her autobiography in which she describes killing a poorly behaved dog.

Noem was making her first appearance before Congress since the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents during the Minnesota immigration crackdown. It is the first of two this week, as she is due to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

She was met with hostility from Tillis, who is retiring at the end of his term, and Democrats on the panel and skepticism even from some other committee Republicans.

“Mistakes have been made,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in his opening remarks. “Let’s make it clear. One death is too many. But officers should never be threatened or harmed while enforcing our laws,”

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., questioned Noem on a $220 million taxpayer-funded ad campaign, that included a lucrative contract with a Republican consulting firm with ties to Noem and Department of Homeland Security aides. Those commercials feature Noem prominently, in one case on horseback with Mount Rushmore in the background, and warn immigrants about entering the country unlawfully. She denied any role in choosing the firm and said the ads have been “extremely effective.”

“Well they were effective in your name recognition,” Kennedy said. “It troubles me. A fifth to a quarter of a billion dollars of taxpayer money when we’re scratching over every penny and we’re fighting over rescission packages. I just can’t agree with.”

Noem’s appearance also coincided with an ongoing DHS shutdown. Funding for DHS lapsed last month, and Democrats have so far refused to back an appropriations bill over frustrations with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics. DHS still has billions of dollars at its disposal to keep some programs running thanks to last year’s massive tax and spending bill.

Some Republicans argued that in light of the recent military action in Iran, failing to fund DHS presented a security risk.

“Can we not understand America’s under siege now, likely to be attacked because radical Islam is under siege and they’re going to hit back, and we’re sitting here looking at each other and not funding DHS?” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Democrats in Congress have been sharply critical of Noem’s leadership of DHS. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., introduced articles of impeachment for Noem in January after federal officers killed Good and Pretti.

“Under your leadership, the Homeland Security Department has been devoid of any moral compass or respect for the rule of law,” Senate Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said at the hearing. “Without hesitation or remorse, DHS agents have wreaked havoc in our cities … and acted with unspeakable cruelty against children, immigrant families and American citizens.”

Friends and family members of individuals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention were present at the hearing. They held signs and shouted in Noem’s direction as she took her seat in a Senate committee room.

Two protesters interrupted testimony and were forcibly removed from the room.

Durbin and others members also took issue with Noem’s handling of the Pretti shooting in Minnesota. In the immediate aftermath, Noem said Pretti, a Minneapolis intensive care unit nurse, “committed an act of domestic terrorism,” then walked the claim back after video of the incident emerged.

“Do you retract these statements identifying these individuals as domestic terrorists?” Durbin asked.

“When we have these situations happen, we always offer condolences to those families, and I offer mine as well. These are tragic situations,” Noem said.

Given the broad use of ICE and DHS agents throughout the country, many Democrats have expressed anxiety that federal officers could be deployed to polling places for midterm elections this November, as some White House allies, like Steve Bannon, have urged.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., asked Noem whether she would “rule out the deployment of ICE or CBP to polling places this November?”

“There are no plans to have ICE officers at our polling locations,” Noem said. She did not explicitly rule it out.