Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin took the oath of office Tuesday and assumed leadership of the embattled department amid a week-long shutdown.
Attorney General Pam Bondi administered the oath of office to Mullin in the presence of President Donald Trump in a ceremony in the Oval Office. There, the newly appointed DHS secretary swore he would work for all Americans and told the President, “I will not let you down.”
He said, “I don’t care what the color of your state is, if you’re red or blue. At the end of the day, my job is to be Secretary of Homeland and protect everyone equally, and we will do that.”
Mullin takes charge of a department in turmoil. The agency has been without funding for more than five weeks, as Democrats push for changes in the tone and nature of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. And her predecessor in the post, Kristi Noem, was criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike for her stewardship of federal disaster relief and her decision to spend $220 million on a controversial ad campaign about her self-deportation.
The White House has indicated in the past 24 hours that a deal could be reached to fund DHS.
However, Trump showed little patience with Senate Democrats on Tuesday. At the event, he accused Democrats of wanting to disrupt DHS and ICE for the purpose of gaining votes. He also stressed that there would be little change in DHS’s approach to immigration enforcement.
“If they get a chance, they want to open the borders again because they think that’s going to get them votes,” Trump said. “With Secretary Mullin at DHS, we will continue our record-setting efforts to deport these illegal alien criminals from our country, and we are doing this at record levels despite a very unfair court system.”
At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Mullin pledged to be a different leader than his predecessor. At the ceremony, Trump expressed confidence in the new DHS head, whom he promoted as a family man with a great business and athletic record.
“He has been outstanding. He has been a close and vital partner in securing the border, stopping the surge of migrant crime and illegal drugs, and helping make America safe again and make America great again,” Trump said. “Everything he touched turned to gold.”
Trump also offered no direct praise for Noem, whom he reassigned to the role of a special envoy focused on the Western Hemisphere and drug cartels. Instead, he credited border czar and White House adviser Tom Homan for helping secure the U.S. southern border with Mexico.
