President Donald Trump shakes hands with newly sworn-in Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin during a ceremony in the Oval Office on March 24, 2026. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump praised his novel head of the Department of Homeland Security, former U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, as “strong, professional and fair” during a swearing-in ceremony in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Mullin, who until Monday was one of Oklahoma’s Republican senators, is taking over as head of the Department of Homeland Security amid a weeks-long partial shutdown following two high-profile fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by two department agencies.
Mullin, who was accompanied by his family at the Oval Office ceremony, described his swearing-in as “surreal” and “humbling” in brief remarks after Attorney General Pam Bondi took the oath of office.
“I’ve made it very clear that I don’t care what color your state is. I don’t care if you’re red or blue. At the end of the day, my job is to be homeland secretary and protect everyone equally. And that’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to fight every day,” Mullin said.
The partial closure has affected major airports across the country Thousands of personnel from the Transportation Security Administration, part of DHS, quit or skipped work in the absence of paychecks.
Mullin said he met with many DHS employees on Tuesday and found that they had been working without pay for more than a month for “political reasons.”
Former fighter
Trump praised Mullin at Tuesday’s ceremony.
“I have no doubt that when Markwayne takes the helm of DHS, he will fight for homeland security and the United States and protect the country and make it really strong, as it should be,” Trump said. “Our country has come a long way in the last year.”
With his elevation to that role, Mullin became the first member of the Cherokee Nation to serve in the president’s Cabinet, a fact that Trump said he “didn’t know.”
Mullin, an award-winning wrestler and former professional mixed martial arts fighter, began his Senate term in 2023. He represented Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District from 2013 until his election as a senator.
Mullin resigned from the US Senate on Monday evening after the body was handed over Confirmation his appointment with 54 votes to 45.
The former senator, whose job will be leading a 260,000-employee department, has not sat on a committee that deals with homeland security policy.
Alan Armstrong, a Tulsa businessman, was sworn in Mullin is scheduled to be replaced in the Senate on Tuesday.
Department in turmoil
Mullin replaces former Secretary of State Kristi Noem, who oversaw the president’s crackdown on mass deportations since the start of Trump’s second term and publicly flaunted her role in advertising campaigns and public appearances – including being photographed touring a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador, home to the US deported Hundreds of migrants defy a judge’s order.
In particular, Noem immediately defended two fatal shootings by department officers in Minneapolis, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers killed 37-year-old Renee Good on January 7 and Customs and Border Protection officers killed Alex Pretti, also 37, on January 24.
Democrats have refused to fully fund DHS unless Republicans agree to novel immigration enforcement policies — including banning officers’ face coverings, requiring the operate of body cameras and requiring judicial arrest warrants.
“The department that Markwayne is taking over today is currently being shut down by radical left-wing Democratic thugs in Congress who have blocked all funding to DHS because they are trying to shield illegal immigrants, criminals and gang members,” Trump said, falsely stating that all DHS funding has been blocked.
While significant numbers of DHS employees, including TSA officers, have been working without pay for weeks, both ICE and Customs and Border Protection are fully funded by a novel influx of money that Republicans approved in July as part of the massive tax and spending package.
Speaking to reporters after Mullins was sworn in, Trump declined to talk in detail about negotiations with the Senate to end the partial shutdown.
“They’re working on all of this,” he said.
