ICE “course correction”? Markwayne Mullin isn’t it

Republicans really want America to believe that Markwayne Mullin will be a breath of fresh air at the Department of Homeland Security. Oklahoma’s junior senator was nominated as DHS secretary by Donald Trump at the same time that his predecessor, Kristi Noem, was publicly fired without her apparent knowledge. Her tenure at the agency saw her become the heavily worked-over face of Trump’s disastrous mass deportation policies, which led to the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, racially charged and violent arrests of other Americans citizens and the imprisonment of small children — including infants — in detention camps.

After Noem’s chaotic leadership, congressional Republicans have been eager to portray Mullin as a fresh start for DHS — a turn toward a more humane and responsible organization. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.. said as much when he admitted the GOP was “in a course-correction mode right now” after experiencing “a little hiccup with some of the Hispanic and Latino voters for certain because some of the immigration enforcement was viewed to be over-zealous.” Mullin’s nomination, he said, was proof of the change.

Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana, who had condemned Noem when she testified before Congress for the final time, gushed about their colleague from Oklahoma, calling him “smart” and a “good guy.” Tillis joked that Mullin “likes dogs,” a jab at Noem, who infamously shot her own 14-month-old dog to death.

But no one should be fooled by this happy talk. There is no reason to think that Mullin will change course in any significant way at DHS. Like Noem, he will be answering primarily to White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, a man who spends all day on X implying that non-white immigrants are the primary source of crime and economic deprivation.

Miller’s demand that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is overseen by DHS, arrest 3,000 people a day is the force behind Noem’s worst choices as secretary. It’s why she hired unvetted and untrained ICE officers and set them loose to round up people with legal status, like asylum seekers and even citizens, which boosted arrest numbers — even though many were eventually released because their arrests were illegitimate.

There is no indication that Miller is backing off these expectations. Instead it appears that Mullin was hired for the same reasons as Noem: a belief that he’ll be unfailingly loyal to Trump and shameless with belligerent performances on TV. Like the former secretary, Mullin has no background in law enforcement or immigration policy, but he’s fond of pretending to be a cowboy or a war veteran. Mullin plays at being a tough guy for the cameras, such as when he challenged a labor leader to a fistfight during a recent Senate hearing. But like any Republican who wants a spot in Trump’s orbit, he seems to have no limits in self-debasement for the boss, including saying he “misspoke” when he called the Iran war a “war.”

Mullin’s rhetoric is no different than Noem’s. He has defended deporting children who are native-born citizens if their parents are immigrants. In a sign of his deep paranoia, he told Fox News in 2025 he is so afraid of being carjacked that he doesn’t wear a seatbelt, even though carjacking rates are rapidly falling. After Border Patrol agents killed Alex Pretti, a peaceful protester in Minneapolis, Mullin went on Fox News to blame the 37-year-old registered nurse for his own death, calling him a “deranged individual.” Videos of the shooting from multiple angles show Pretti was killed while helping a woman to her feet, with only an iPhone in his hand as he filmed the officers, which he had every legal right to do.

If congressional Republicans really wanted a course correction at DHS, they have a straightforward opportunity without changing its leadership. The agency has been shutdown since Feb. 14, when Democrats refused to support legislation funding the agency because it lacked provisions reforming ICE. The list of demands in their counterproposal is straightforward. ICE agents would be required to wear identification badges and work without masks, and follow existing laws regarding warrants. They would also be banned from targeting people based on race. The GOP’s refusal to rein in the rogue agency even a little shows that the party does not want to “course correct” in any meaningful way.

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But while they want no substantive changes to DHS, Republicans very much want the press to believe they’re interested in a less chaotic approach to immigration enforcement. On March 10 the Washington Post reported that GOP leadership is telling its members to cool it with talk of mass deportations ahead of the November midterms in favor of “highlighting the administration’s removal of criminals.” In fact, one investigation after another shows that the vast majority of people detained by ICE have no criminal record. Immigration was once among Trump’s strongest issues. Now, according to Reuters/Ipsos, his approval rating on immigration has sunk to a new low of 38%. 

As Mullin appears at his confirmation hearing today, Republican senators will lean into their hopes that a few cosmetic changes will mask the human rights crisis Trump has unleashed. This smokescreen may even work for a time, snagging friendly headlines from mainstream media outlets that are also eager to move on from stories of ICE agents beating and harassing innocent people in the streets.

But as long as ICE is being pushed into making mass arrests, it’s unlikely that public perception will shift back in Trump’s favor. Regular Americans armed only with cameraphones keep filming federal agents abusing their power. A few messaging changes from Republican politicians won’t make much of a difference.

Like Noem before him, Mullin will feel pressure to go on TV and use hyperbolic, violent language that impresses his bosses but makes most voters queasy. If Republicans really want this issue to go away, they would agree to set of reforms proposed by Democrats. Stephen Miller may not like it, but a less sociopathic ICE could save a few Republican seats in what is otherwise looking like a blue rout.

The post ICE “course correction”? Markwayne Mullin isn’t it appeared first on Salon.com.