Mullin Has A Limited Window Of Time To Prove Himself At Dhs

Newly minted Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has a short window to calm the turmoil inside and around his embattled department before it could cause lasting damage to Republicans in the midterms.

Some lawmakers who work closely with the Department of Homeland Security say they want to give their former colleague, who was until earlier this week a Republican senator from Oklahoma, an opportunity to get his bearings and articulate his vision for changes. But even Mullin’s backers acknowledge he’s in a time crunch to prove himself as a changemaker.

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee that funds DHS, said he wanted to give Mullin a chance to address “some stuff that was bubbling under the previous secretary,” but added that Mullin would need to show progress quickly.

“You got a new sheriff in town, so he’s going to get a honeymoon, probably shorter than normal because he didn’t exactly walk into the Pacific Ocean on a calm day.” Amodei said.

Already, just two days into his new job, Mullin is helping shepherd a deal to reopen DHS and end a five-week-long shutdown. He's dealing with anger over long lines at airports because TSA workers are failing to show up for work since they aren’t getting paid during the funding lapse, as well as continued public discontent about the tone and tenor of the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.

The shutdown also only further delays Mullin’s ability to enact meaningful changes to DHS operations, said House Homeland Security Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.).

“He was just thrown into the deep end of the pool, so he’s got a lot of stuff that he’s got to work on, especially if the Dems ever side with us and open the department again,” Garbarino said Thursday.

Congressional Republicans have high hopes that Mullin can bring a steady hand to a DHS that often made controversial moves — and garnered critical headlines — under former Secretary Kristi Noem. They want to see a department that is more responsive to Capitol Hill, better at disbursing disaster relief funds and generally able to steward a major influx of federal dollars for hiring immigration officers and promoting border security infrastructure.

Part of that push is also an eagerness to make sure immigration enforcement operations, which resulted in two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minnesota in January, don't alienate voters ahead of the November elections. There are worries that further slides in the president’s approval numbers on immigration could hurt Republicans in critical swing races down ballot.

Democrats have used those poll numbers to argue that changes must be made at DHS — including banning immigration from wearing masks and requiring more training at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection — before the department can receive funding.

Those close to Mullin say he’ll likely pay close attention to what Americans are saying about the tactics and scope of the Trump administration's deportation operations.

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), who has known Mullin since before either entered politics and is now running to replace him in the Senate, said the new secretary is keenly aware of the politics surrounding the department and will focus on the deportations of unauthorized immigrants with criminal records. Such a move would respond to growing concerns among Americans that the administration is going too far in trying to achieve its ambitious target of deporting a million unauthorized immigrants a year — with deadly results, such as those in Minnesota earlier this year.

“He understands how important it is to get this quickly returned to some normalcy, to what its jurisdiction is, because it’s so important for the midterms,” Hern said. “Knowing him as well as I do, for as long as I have, he understands that enormity, and he’s willing to take that on.”

Even before Noem’s tenure at DHS, Republicans have wanted to make structural changes to the department, which they have argued is too bloated and too astray from its original mission of keeping the U.S. safe from terror threats.

But some on Capitol Hill say they still aren’t clear on how Mullin plans to approach the department more broadly, or to carry out the Trump administration’s ambitious immigration agenda.

Mullin has a limited legislative record on immigration issues, though he’s previously played a role as a negotiator in immigration policy fights on Capitol Hill. He never served on a committee with direct oversight of DHS either.

At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Mullin said he wanted DHS to be in the headlines less. He also expressed support for the use of judicial warrants to enter homes, bucking the administration’s position that administrative warrants not signed by a judge are enough under U.S. law to allow immigration officers to enter a home.

But Mullin was vaguer than some Democratic lawmakers wanted on other issues around immigration enforcement, including whether ICE would be deployed to polling locations during the midterm elections. Mullin has also not offered many additional details about his approach since.

At his swearing in Tuesday, Mullin pledged to President Donald Trump that “I won’t let you down” and added that “nobody will outwork” him. He reiterated his vow to work to help Democrat and Republican-led states equally. But he did not offer further insights into how he’ll manage the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Mullin is well-suited to the challenges of the role.

“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, Secretary Mullin will work tirelessly to implement the president’s agenda,” she said in a statement.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the dean of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation who served with Mullin for a decade in the House, said Mullin’s scant record on immigration issues has an upside, arguing, “maybe he comes to this process with an open mind on these issues. And that’s a good thing.”

Some close to the administration are holding out hope that Mullin will be even more aggressive on immigration enforcement than Noem, and that Mullin was simply trying to placate his colleagues during the confirmation process. After all, Mullin was, prior to his nomination to lead DHS, seen as a similar immigration hard-liner who championed mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants.

In January, Mullin defended immigration officers after the shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis, going so far as to repeat the administration’s line early on that Pretti was a “domestic terrorist.” Mullin retracted those comments at his confirmation hearing and said he "responded immediately without the facts.”

“I understand that there's a dance you gotta do for confirmation, but I'm holding out hope that he's not there to shut it down, and he's there to ramp it up instead,” said one person close to the White House, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about their views on Mullin.

There are lingering questions in other corners about Mullin’s temperament. During his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Mullin sparred with Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over past comments he made suggesting the Kentucky Republican deserved to be the victim of political violence. Democrats and Paul cited Mullin’s refusal to apologize as a sign he was unfit to serve as DHS secretary.

But some prominent Democrats are signaling they’ll give Mullin some — limited — space to get his bearings.

“We want to make sure we allow him to put his team together, but also the challenges before DHS now are extensive,” said Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security panel, who opposed Mullin’s confirmation. “He’s going to have to basically be drinking out of a firehose. They just need to make sure he does the job right.”

Lucas emphasized Mullin is a “kind of hyperactive worker” while noting that even if he is able to get up and running quickly, it will be a challenge to make substantial, lasting changes to the DHS.

“There’s two years and 10 months left in this administration,” Lucas said. “Can he make a change in the culture of that entire agency, and a number of its sub-Cabinet levels, and make real changes in the time that’s left to him?”

Myah Ward contributed to this report.