The Senate confirmed Sen. Markwayne Mullin as the next Secretary of Homeland Security on Monday, placing the Oklahoma Republican at the helm of the nation’s largest federal department as it navigates a government shutdown, a contentious immigration debate, and the fallout from a series of high-profile enforcement controversies.

Mullin was confirmed in a 54-45 vote, with two Democrats — Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico — crossing the aisle to support his nomination. He becomes the second Homeland Security secretary of President Trump’s second term, succeeding Kristi Noem, whom Trump fired earlier this year.

The confirmation puts Mullin, 48, in charge of a department of more than 250,000 employees — roughly 100,000 of whom are currently working without pay due to a partial government shutdown that has snarled funding negotiations between Senate Democrats and the White House.

“I’m not scared of a challenge. I am scared of failure,” Mullin said during his confirmation hearing last week. “My goal in six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day.”

That may prove difficult. DHS has been at the center of some of the most contentious fights of Trump’s second term, overseeing a record expansion of immigration detention, a dramatic drop in border crossings, and a series of enforcement surges in major cities. The most recent surge, in Minneapolis, resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens by federal agents.

Noem, who was a visible and aggressive advocate for the administration’s immigration agenda, was ousted after drawing fire from both parties. Critics pointed to her description of a man shot by Border Patrol agents as a “domestic terrorist” and questions surrounding a $250 million ad campaign encouraging immigrants to self-deport, which DHS awarded without a competitive bidding process.

Mullin signaled a somewhat different approach. During his hearing, he pledged to use judicial warrants — rather than the administrative warrants DHS approves internally — when entering homes or businesses, except when agents are in active pursuit. He also committed to visiting a New Jersey community where the agency is seeking to convert warehouses into immigration detention facilities, a proposal that has generated significant local opposition. And he said he believed FEMA should be restructured rather than eliminated — a position that put him at odds with some in the administration while reassuring lawmakers whose states depend on federal disaster relief.

Some Democrats said they were cautiously hopeful that Mullin would bring a steadier hand to a department that has lurched from controversy to controversy. Heinrich, who voted for Mullin, called him a friend and praised his independence.

“I have also seen first-hand that Markwayne is not someone who can simply be bullied into changing his views,” Heinrich said, adding that he looked forward to having a secretary who doesn’t take direction from White House adviser Stephen Miller.

But skeptics warned that the change at the top would not translate into a meaningful shift in direction. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, who voted against Mullin, said the department needed “a steady leader who won’t rush to judgment without having all the facts.” Peters also raised concerns about undisclosed foreign travel by Mullin — a line of questioning that Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky joined, with both ultimately voting no. The matter was expected to be taken up in a classified briefing.

The confirmation arrives at a particularly fraught moment for DHS funding negotiations. Talks between Senate Democrats and the White House had shown some signs of progress, with Democrats seeking limits on aggressive enforcement tactics in exchange for ending the shutdown. But those discussions hit a wall over the weekend after President Trump insisted that any deal include passage of the Save America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote — a demand Democrats have flatly rejected.

Whether Mullin can help break that impasse remains an open question. For now, he inherits a department under strain, a workforce going without paychecks, and a mandate from a president for whom immigration enforcement remains the defining priority of his second term.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)