After firing Noem
US Senate confirms Senator Mullin as Secretary of Homeland Security
Updated March 24, 2026 – 12:03 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Not a month has passed since Kristi Noem was removed as Secretary of Homeland Security. Now Trump loyalist Markwayne Mullin will lead the department.
The US Senate has confirmed Republican Markwayne Mullin as the new US Secretary of Homeland Security. The former senator from the state of Oklahoma is considered a loyal supporter of US President Donald Trump and his immigration policy.
Before entering politics, Mullin was a professional MMA martial artist, a discipline in which fighters compete in a cage-like ring, according to US media. Mullins’ swearing-in is scheduled for Tuesday.
With a majority of 54 to 45, the senators voted for the 48-year-old Republican. He is taking over the leadership of the US agency responsible for internal security. Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem earlier this month and nominated Mullin as her successor.
Noem – once Trump’s preferred candidate for the post – attracted criticism for her aggressive approach to deportations. She came into trouble because of the rigorous operations of the immigration agency ICE, which is assigned to the ministry. At the beginning of the year, two Americans died in fatal shots by emergency services – ICE was also involved here.
Supporters describe Mullin as a pragmatic negotiator who works across party lines. He himself announced that he wanted to adopt a more moderate tone than his predecessor Noem. At his hearing, Mullin emphasized that he was friends with Noem but had a different leadership style. He apologized for describing one of the two Americans killed in the operations as “mentally disturbed.”
The Trump loyalist faces the challenge of implementing the president’s tough deportation policy without stirring up further discontent among the US population. Critics accuse him of being impulsive.
Before his confirmation as US Secretary of Homeland Security, the Republican was a member of the House of Representatives for ten years and a senator for three years. According to US media, he is married and has six children. Before his political career, he successfully ran a family-owned plumbing business and was a mixed martial arts fighter. MMA is a martial art that is particularly popular in the USA, and Trump is also a fan. The fighters use techniques from boxing, kickboxing and wrestling, among other things. Unlike wrestling, the fights are not staged.
