Senate confirms election denier Markwayne Mullin as DHS chief

The Senate voted 54-45 Monday to confirm Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R) to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) when outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem leaves office at the end of the month.

Mullin’s ascension to the helm of DHS will have significant implications for the future of free and fair elections in the U.S., given the department’s role in election security and the risk that immigration officers — who fall under DHS’s authority — could be used to interfere in elections.

Two Democrats — John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico — voted to confirm Mullin, breaking with the rest of their caucus, while one Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted against.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), did not vote.

In recent months, Trump’s close allies have urged him to send U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to voting sites during this year’s midterms — a move clearly meant to intimidate voters and poll workers and artificially influence election outcomes.

The White House hasn’t definitively ruled out that possibility, nor has Mullin.

During a confirmation hearing last week, Mullin made it clear that he would be willing to send ICE agents to the polls for a “specific threat” and rejected concerns that the tactic could potentially intimidate voters.

“I don’t understand what the concern is about enforcement of immigration at polling places anyway, because honestly, if you’re not a citizen, you shouldn’t be voting anyway, so technically there shouldn’t be illegals at the polling spot,” Mullin said.

Mullin’s comments were at odds with federal law, which expressly bars the stationing of law enforcement officers or members of the military at polling places. They also contradicted recent statements from senior DHS and ICE officials.

In an unusual call between the FBI, DHS and secretaries of state last month, Heather Honey, a senior DHS “election integrity” official, told state authorities that the Trump administration would not dispatch ICE agents — or any other armed federal agents — to polling places this year.

And in a public hearing last month, Todd Lyons, the acting chief of ICE, told senators that immigration officials would have “no reason” to be at voting locations, although he also didn’t definitively rule out the possibility. 

During the hearing, Mullin also supported DHS’s extraordinary investigation into Arizona’s 2020 election results and refused to definitively say that Trump lost that election.

“We know that President Joe Biden was sworn into office,” Mullin, who refused to certify Biden’s victory, said.

Before his confirmation, state election chiefs asked Mullin to confirm in writing that ICE agents wouldn’t be sent to the polls under his leadership. There has been no indication that Mullin has done so.

Concerns over immigration officers at polls have only intensified following Trump’s snap decision to send ICE agents to major U.S. airports amid a funding lapse for most of DHS.

On Monday, Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, suggested that the president’s ICE deployment at the airports was a “test run” for using federal officers to interfere in the November elections.

This story has been updated.