WASHINGTON (AP) — Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump's pick for Homeland Security secretary, appears before senators on Wednesday for his confirmation
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., arrives before Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin presents President Donald Trump with a bowl of shamrocks during a St. Patrick's Day event in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Washington.
WASHINGTON — Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump’s pick for Homeland Security secretary, appears before senators on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing and will face questions over his vision for a department tasked with carrying out the Republican administration’s push for mass deportations. Mullin, an Oklahoma senator, has spent 13 years in Congress and has emerged as a close ally of the president’s. If confirmed, he would replace outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired earlier this month amid mounting criticism of her leadership of the Department of Homeland Security. The hearing will be the first opportunity for lawmakers and the public to hear directly from Mullin about how he intends to run the third-largest department in the Cabinet. The sprawling department, with a workforce of roughly 260,000 employees, oversees a diverse mission set of responsibilities ranging from protecting the president from a bullet to helping states recover from disasters to deporting people in the country illegally. Mullin is a former mixed martial arts fighter who ran a plumbing business in Oklahoma before running for Congress. He has in the past indicated support for immigration operations, and he’s expected to be a faithful ally for Trump’s agenda if he is confirmed for the top job at DHS. “Whether it be protecting the homeland from bad actors, stopping dangerous drugs from flowing into American communities, or removing the worst-of-the-worst criminal illegal aliens, Senator Mullin will work tirelessly to implement the President’s agenda,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in an emailed statement Tuesday. The president’s immigration agenda and how Mullin intends to execute on it is expected to be a key line of questioning as Democrats drill down into Mullin’s views. The hearing comes as the president’s mass deportations agenda is at a crossroads, and Mullin will face pressure to reach the president’s lofty deportation goals when the public mood has soured over the aggressive way immigration enforcement operations have been carried out. Anger over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics has prompted Democrats to refuse to fund DHS until it makes a series of changes to its officers’ conduct. In an opening statement released ahead of the hearing, Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said the Democrats were asking for “straightforward” reforms in line with rules police departments follow. Peters underlined the challenges that Homeland Security is facing from threats from Iran to criminal hackers and said the department needed someone with a “steady hand.” But Peters said he had “reservations” about whether Mullin was ready to assume such a significant role. As the latest partial government shutdown drags on, there have been long security lines at a growing number of U.S airports as security screeners go into another month without pay. Republicans have repeatedly charged that Democrats are risking the nation’s national security by blocking funding to the department. Under Noem, intense enforcement operations were launched in places including Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, where immigrants were rounded up in arrest sweeps and protesters clashed with federal officers. Activists and politicians accused DHS officers of smashing car windows, roughing up bystanders who tried to record their activities and detaining immigrants in squalid conditions. The shooting deaths of two protesters — Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis — contributed to swelling criticism of Trump’s immigration agenda. Homeland Security has said that its officers are responding with force only when necessary and have blamed activists and politicians, who they say are dialing up the rhetoric against their officers. Mullin also will likely face questions about the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which is in the middle of a tumultuous reform process after Trump said he wanted to overhaul it, if not eliminate it. Noem led a Trump-appointed FEMA Review Council that was set to recommend sweeping changes to how the federal government helps states, tribes and territories prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. The reforms had the potential to drastically reduce federal support for disasters and put more responsibility on local jurisdictions. Meanwhile, under Noem’s leadership, all contracts above $100,000 had to wait for her approval. That led to long delays for states desperate for reimbursements for money they’d already spent on things like storm debris removal. After two acting administrators left FEMA during Noem’s tenure, the agency is still without a permanent head. Trump said he was making Noem a special envoy for a new security initiative that would focus on the Western Hemisphere. Noem thanked Trump for the appointment and touted her accomplishments as secretary, saying she made “historic accomplishments” at DHS to make America safe.WASHINGTON — Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump’s pick for Homeland Security secretary, appears before senators on Wednesday for his confirmation hearing and will face questions over his vision for a department tasked with carrying out the Republican administration’s push for mass deportations. Mullin, an Oklahoma senator, has spent 13 years in Congress and has NOME, Alaska — Former reality TV star Jessie Holmes cruised to a repeat victory in the Iditarod, the roughly 1,000-mile sled dog race in Alaska. Holmes guided his dog team across the finish line Tuesday night in the old Gold Rush town of Nome, a Bering Sea coastal community. The race started March Iran launched strikes toward Israel and neighboring Gulf countries early Wednesday, with explosions heard in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and interceptions reported in Saudi Arabia. The attacks came hours after Iranian state media confirmed Israel’s military killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani in an overnight strike, as well as Gen. Gholam Reza WASHINGTON — Top Trump administration national security officials facing back-to-back congressional hearings starting Wednesday are expected to be pressed on the war in Iran, including a deadly strike on a school, as well as the FBI’s capacity to prevent terror attacks inside the United States. The annual worldwide threats hearings involving the government’s senior-most BISMARCK, N.D. — Tennessee farmer Todd Littleton expects to pay $100,000 more for fertilizer this season, a 40% spike from his bill last year thanks to the war in Iran — and he is scrambling to cover that extra cost. “The problem is, is we’re so strained financially coming into this issue,” said Littleton, LAS VEGAS — When Becky O’Brien dangles herring over a tank of over a dozen swimming sharks, it only takes seconds for a zebra shark to snatch the fish from her tongs. The lead aquarist said she always knew she wanted to work with marine life; she just didn’t think she’d be a shark Chrystal Ortega's tireless dedication recently earned her the WSECU Community Champions Award and a $1,000 grant to further the mission.When Shawn Tibbitts opened Tibbitts FernHill, he was just trying to survive. The small Tacoma restaurant has since earned culinary awards and praise.Wilcox Family Farms is continuing its cherished holiday tradition of giving back by donating nearly one million eggs to food banks across the South Sound region this season.Matthew Ballantyne has transformed that early awareness into action, embodying the organization's mission:"No Kid Sleeps On The Floor In Our Town."Discover Kitsap County’s creative soul: Where Nordic charm meets gothic gardens and ancient traditions thrive Kitsap County is full of wonderfully weird, authentically artsy, and unexpectedly magical corners that make visitors become locals and locals never want to leave.
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