Markwayne Mullin took the oath as Secretary of Homeland Security in an Oval Office ceremony Tuesday, stepping into one of the most consequential Cabinet posts in the federal government while President Trump cracked wise about his new pick's Cherokee heritage. Attorney General Pam Bondi administered the oath as Christie Mullin held a Bible and family members looked on, the Daily Mail reported.
Trump, reading through Mullin's biography aloud, paused when he reached the former senator's Native American background. "But as the only Native American... I didn't know that," the president said. He then turned to Mullin and asked how many Native Americans had served in the Senate before him. Mullin's answer: "I think three."
The joke landed the way Trump's asides usually do, loose, unscripted, and guaranteed to generate a news cycle. But the substance of the moment mattered far more than the quip. Mullin replaces fired predecessor Kristi Noem and was confirmed by the Senate in a 54-45 vote, with nearly all Republicans and two Democrats supporting him. He inherits a department under enormous strain, and an immigration enforcement agenda that demands a fighter, not a figurehead.
Trump leaned into the historic nature of the appointment. "Markwayne has also been a fantastic advocate for our cherished tribal communities," he said. "He's now the first member of the Cherokee Nation ever to serve as a member of the Cabinet."
The president added, with a grin, that he wished he'd known sooner. "I didn't know all these things. I would have picked him faster. If I had known, I would have made a quicker decision."
Mullin, for his part, kept his heritage in perspective. In a 2025 press release, he had put it plainly: "I'm Cherokee, and I never knew I was special for being Cherokee until I came to DC, because where I'm from, everybody is Indian or wants to be." That kind of grounded self-awareness, the opposite of identity-politics posturing, is exactly what DHS needs right now. The department doesn't need a secretary who leads with grievance. It needs one who leads with work ethic.
And Mullin made clear he intends to do just that.
The new secretary's remarks during the ceremony struck a tone that should reassure anyone who cares about border security and public safety. He pledged to work with states regardless of their politics.
"I don't care what color your state is. I don't care if you're red or you're blue. At the end of the day, my job is to be the Secretary of Homeland Security and to protect everybody the same. And we will do just that."
That quote, as the Washington Times reported, came during an Oval Office event where Mullin also vowed that "no one's going to outwork me" and declared that "the President has entrusted me with this, and failure is not an option."
Trump echoed the confidence. "Everybody wanted this job," the president said, according to the New York Post. "I said there's one man for this job and I have no doubt he's going to be fantastic."
He went further, calling Mullin "a close and vital partner in helping us secure the border, stop migrant crime, end the scourge of illegal drugs, and make America safe again," as Breitbart detailed from the ceremony.
Mullin doesn't get a honeymoon. He steps into the DHS job during a partial government shutdown that has now stretched into its sixth week. The Washington Examiner noted that ICE officers have begun assisting TSA with airport security screenings as staffing shortages produce hourslong lines at checkpoints across the country.
The shutdown has created real disruption. Fox News reported that TSA workers face financial hardship, and Democrats rejected a DHS funding deal, escalating the standoff and leaving frontline officers to absorb the consequences of Washington's dysfunction.
That context makes the Mullin appointment more than ceremonial. Trump's decision to replace Noem with Mullin came amid open Republican frustration with the department's leadership. Noem was fired. The administration needed someone who could hit the ground running, someone who already had relationships on Capitol Hill and credibility on immigration enforcement. Mullin, a former senator from Oklahoma who had been a vocal backer of border security, fit the profile.
His committee confirmation fight was not without friction, but he cleared each hurdle and won bipartisan support on the final vote. That's no small thing in a Senate this divided.
Trump spent part of the ceremony doing what he often does, talking about people, not just policy. He praised the Mullin family, including Christie and their six children. "I want to thank the family, because without the family, he's not here," Trump said. "He's a different person, and that goes especially for mom, who looks like she's about 22 years old."
The president also recalled a personal bond built over years. In 2020, Mullin's son Jim, then 15, suffered a serious injury during a high school wrestling match. Trump later invited Markwayne and Jim on stage at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2023, the two attended the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships together at the BOK Center in Tulsa. Wrestling runs deep in the Mullin family, and the shared trips clearly cemented a relationship that now carries real policy weight.
Mullin's move to DHS opened his Oklahoma Senate seat. On Tuesday, Governor Kevin Stitt swore in energy executive Alan Armstrong to serve as the state's junior senator until November, when a special election will determine who fills the seat permanently. The appointment followed Trump's decision to tap Mullin after Noem's exit, and the transition moved quickly. Republican Congressman Kevin Hern is described as the heavy favorite in the upcoming race.
Oklahoma isn't losing conservative representation. It's gaining a native son in a Cabinet post where toughness and accountability matter more than ever.
Mullin's swearing-in gives the Trump administration a confirmed, Senate-approved DHS chief at a moment when the department faces a funding fight, staffing shortages, and an immigration enforcement mandate that demands execution, not excuses. The shutdown standoff with Democrats isn't going away. Airport chaos isn't going away. The border isn't securing itself.
Trump picked a man who says he'll outwork everyone and treat failure as unacceptable. The media will fixate on the Cherokee joke. The country needs Mullin to deliver on the promise.
Washington has plenty of people who talk about securing the homeland. Now it has one more who says he'll actually do it. The clock started Tuesday.
