Trump's New DHS Pick: The MMA Fighter Who Wants Citizenship Papers

TL;DR: On March 5, Trump fired Kristi Noem as DHS Secretary and named Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin as her replacement. Mullin takes over March 31. His record: voted for FISA reauthorization without warrant requirements, defended ICE agents who killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, and told CNBC "there's nothing to hide if you're here legally" when asked about universal citizenship checks. The $85 billion surveillance apparatus at DHS is about to get a true believer at the helm.

Noem's Out. Mullin's In.

Trump announced Noem's firing via Truth Social, while she was literally on stage giving a keynote speech in Nashville. He called her minutes before to tell her. That's how abrupt this was.

The reasons piled up fast: the Minneapolis operation where ICE killed two U.S. citizens. Two days of combative congressional hearings. A claim that Trump approved a $220 million ad campaign that the White House immediately denied. And questions about her relationship with "special government employee" Corey Lewandowski that never quite got answered.

Noem's not going away. Trump named her "Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas," whatever that means. But the surveillance state's biggest domestic apparatus needed new management.

Enter Markwayne Mullin: first-term Senator, Cherokee Nation citizen, former MMA fighter, and consistent hardliner on immigration enforcement. He takes over March 31.

The Surveillance Record

Before he runs DHS, we should look at how Mullin voted when surveillance questions came to the Senate floor.

FISA Section 702 Reauthorization (April 2024)

Mullin was one of 30 Republican senators who voted for the FISA reauthorization bill in April 2024. That bill extended warrantless surveillance authorities through April 2026, 42 days from now.

Here's what matters: a warrant requirement amendment failed 50-42 in the Senate. That amendment would have required the FBI to get a warrant before searching Section 702 data for information about Americans. Mullin voted for the final bill anyway, without those protections.

So when Mullin runs DHS, he'll be running an agency that benefits directly from the warrantless search authorities he helped preserve.

The Mixed Signals

To be fair, Mullin's record isn't purely surveillance-friendly. According to the Institute for Legislative Analysis, he supported removing one FISA provision that would have expanded warrantless surveillance to more Americans and businesses. He also backed inserting the "Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act" into the FISA bill, blocking government from buying Americans' data without a warrant.

So there's nuance. But when push came to shove on the final FISA vote, he voted yes.

"Nothing to Hide If You're Here Legally"

In a CNBC interview last month, Mullin was asked about expanded immigration enforcement. His answer:

"There's nothing to hide if you're here legally."

That's the "nothing to hide" argument used to justify every surveillance expansion in history. It sounds reasonable until you're the one being surveilled.

Mullin has called for everyone to carry proof of citizenship "in case they are stopped and questioned by law enforcement." Not green cards for immigrants. Citizenship papers for everyone.

That's a framework for universal document checks. Combined with DHS's existing surveillance infrastructure (license plate readers, facial recognition databases, cell phone tracking) it positions DHS to verify identity on demand, anywhere, for any reason.

Defending Minneapolis

On January 2026, ICE operations in Minneapolis resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens: Alex Pretti and Renee Good. The incident sparked national outrage and ultimately contributed to Noem's firing.

Mullin defended the agents.

On Good's death, Mullin said the officer "didn't have an option" but to "engage" her. He characterized her vehicle as "a lethal weapon" when she accelerated. Whether fleeing or attacking, he said, "it doesn't make any difference."

On the broader enforcement tactics, Mullin blamed local officials for "not allowing local law enforcement to do their job." He pointed to operations in St. Louis, Memphis, and D.C. as examples where local cooperation produced better outcomes.

He's also opposed to unmasking ICE agents, saying it's "led to doxing in the past." But he's open to agents wearing badges identifying their agency: small comfort when the agents themselves remain anonymous.

What This Means for Surveillance

DHS oversees an $85 billion surveillance apparatus including:

ICE surveillance: facial recognition (Mobile Fortify, Clearview AI), license plate readers, cell phone tracking
CBP: border surveillance technology, biometric entry/exit systems
CISA: domestic cyber operations, infrastructure monitoring
Secret Service: mass event surveillance

Mullin inherits all of this. And based on his record, expect:

Expanded enforcement cooperation: Mullin has repeatedly blamed local officials for enforcement failures. He'll push for more federal-local data sharing.
No new warrant requirements: He voted against warrant protections for FISA searches. No reason to expect him to add them elsewhere.
Universal ID verification framework: That "papers please" comment wasn't an accident. The infrastructure exists to make it happen.
Hardline on transparency: No unmasking of agents, minimal disclosure of surveillance methods.

The Tribal Complication

There's one wildcard: Mullin is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and the first tribal citizen to serve in the U.S. Senate in nearly two decades.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. praised the nomination, noting it's "deeply encouraging" to have someone who understands federal Indian policy at DHS. ICE has documented issues targeting members of federally-recognized tribes, and Mullin's background could influence how those cases are handled.

Will that translate to broader skepticism of surveillance overreach? Tribal nations have plenty of experience with federal government surveillance and broken promises. Whether Mullin applies that lens to DHS operations generally, or just to tribal-specific cases, remains to be seen.

The Clock Is Ticking

Mullin takes over March 31. That's 22 days from now.

Twenty days after that, FISA Section 702 expires on April 20, the same authorities Mullin voted to extend without warrant protections.

He'll be running DHS during the most contentious surveillance debate in a decade, and his position is already clear: he sided with warrantless searches when it mattered.

Watch what happens in the next six weeks. The new sheriff is a believer.

References

Published: March 9, 2026