Senate confirms new chief for Homeland Security
WASHINGTON — The United States Senate on Monday confirmed Markwayne Mullin as the new chief of the Department of Homeland Security, an agency reeling from a partial government shutdown as it works to enforce President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
Senators voted 54-45 for 48-year-old Republican Mullin, who previously served as a senator for Oklahoma.
Mullin replaces Kristi Noem as DHS head, after she was fired earlier this month in part for her handling of the recent large-scale operation against undocumented migrants in Minnesota, during which federal immigration agents shot dead two protesters who were US citizens.
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate last week, Mullin said one of his goals would be to steer the DHS and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency away from the spotlight.
DHS funding has lapsed since Feb 14, as Democratic lawmakers seek to implement reforms to immigration enforcement.
The monthlong DHS shutdown has impacted other services overseen by the department, including the Transportation Security Administration, the agency responsible for airport security screenings.
TSA staff members around the country have worked for weeks without pay, with more than 300 quitting since the start of the shutdown, leading to extended travel delays as airports struggle to screen air travelers.
Trump on Sunday announced ICE agents would be deployed to airports affected by the travel delays.
TSA standoff looms
Federal law enforcement officers are a routine presence at international airports. Customs and Border Protection officers screen arriving passengers, and Homeland Security Investigations agents conduct criminal inquiries tied to cross-border activity. But immigration agents are rarely visible at TSA checkpoints, the front line of domestic air travel.
While ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security, it has nonetheless been able to maintain operations using funds approved by Congress last year.
Some fear that positioning federal immigration officers at security checkpoints will only escalate tensions. Union leaders representing aviation workers stressed that ICE officers don't have the same training and expertise as TSA workers.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees — which represents TSA officers — said in a statement that his members "deserve to be paid, not replaced by untrained, armed agents who have shown how dangerous they can be".
Agencies via Xinhua




























