The until now Republican senator Markwayne Mullin was sworn in this Tuesday as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the United States, replacing Kristi Noem, who was fired by the president, Donald Trump.
Mullin takes office at a particularly delicate moment, marked by chaos at airports resulting from staff shortages following the partial closure of DHS, which was left without funds due to the lack of agreement between Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Attorney General Pam Bondi swore in Mullin, 48, during a White House Oval Office event presided over by Trump a day after the Senate confirmed him for the position.
«I don’t care what political color your state is. I don’t care if they are red (Republicans) or blue (Democrats). At the end of the day, my job is to be Secretary of Homeland Security and protect everyone equally, and we will do that,” Mullin declared after taking office.
The new secretary recalled that, because of the closure, many employees of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been working for more than 30 days without receiving their salary, which demonstrates their “dedication” when it comes to “protecting the homeland.”
“No one is going to work harder than me,” said Mullin, who promised Trump that he will not let him down.
Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, was confirmed to the position on Monday in the Senate, by a vote of 54 in favor and 45 against.
The new secretary ends a 13-year career in Congress, where he was known as a key negotiator between both chambers to approve Trump’s 2025 tax plan.
Mullin replaces Noem, who was fired earlier this month, who spearheaded a tough immigration policy that included massive raids in Minneapolis that led to the deaths of two US citizens shot by federal agents.
Minnesota sues Trump
The state of Minnesota and its most populous county sued President Donald Trump’s administration to obtain evidence about the shootings in which two American citizens died at the hands of ICE agents, which has not been shared with state authorities.
The legal complaint argues that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have not given state investigators access to the evidence of the two shootings that occurred last January and where Americans Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both 37 years old, died at the hands of agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE).
The plaintiffs have asked the court to order the US Executive to provide access to the evidence requested in the Good and Pretti cases.
They have also asked the federal court to force federal authorities to hand over information on the case of Venezuelan Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was shot in the leg by ICE.
Authorities in Minnesota and Hennepin County, where the shootings occurred, and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension warned that in both Good’s death (January 7) and Pretti’s death (January 24), federal agents “quickly reneged” on their promises of cooperation.
“Instead of sharing information, federal authorities took exclusive possession of the evidence that had been collected and denied Minnesota investigators access to key information,” they wrote in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The plaintiffs also charged against the immigration operations and warned that the three shootings are “examples” of the violent actions committed by federal agents in Minnesota.
«Federal agents also carried out illegal detentions, raids, arrests and dangerous operations in public spaces. “The operation generated widespread fear among Minnesota residents, both citizens and non-citizens,” the legal complaint details.
The lawsuit has also asked the court to declare DHS and DOJ’s practice of refusing to share investigative material with Minnesota authorities as “arbitrary and capricious” and excessive with respect to the application of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
