Markwayne Mullin, one of President Donald Trump's newest Cabinet appointees, is already facing calls for dismissal from hardline members of the president's own political coalition, according to Axios. Critics within the MAGA movement are accusing the Homeland Security secretary of being "too soft" on immigration enforcement. The backlash underscores the political volatility surrounding DHS, which oversees ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and USCIS — the three federal agencies most central to delivering on Trump's signature mass deportation pledge.

Mullin, formerly a Republican senator from Oklahoma, was selected by Trump to replace Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security after her departure. While Noem's tenure was widely described as turbulent, some in Washington had hoped Mullin would bring a steadier, more professional hand to the agency. Instead, his approach has drawn the ire of Trump's most ardent anti-immigration supporters, who have tracked deportation metrics closely since Trump took office and view any deviation from maximum enforcement as a betrayal of the campaign mandate.

"Just [4.5] months after replacing Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, Markwayne Mullin is feeling the heat from President Trump's MAGA enforcers," Axios reported. "Mullin provoked border czar Tom Homan with an ICE nominee who has limited immigration experience, had to walk back changes in immigration policy, and angered the MAGA base with talk of immigration reform. Some MAGA activists see Mullin, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, as too soft on immigration and are already agitating for his ouster."

The friction between Mullin and Homan centers on Mullin's nomination of Lance Schroyer to lead ICE. Schroyer, described as a former Oklahoma state highway trooper and a member of Mullin's personal security detail, lacks significant immigration enforcement experience. His only related credential is participation in a 287(g) agreement, a federal program that authorizes state and local officers to assist ICE with certain enforcement duties. The program has been expanded under Trump as part of broader efforts to surge deportation capacity through local partnerships, making deep familiarity with its mechanics a baseline expectation among enforcement advocates for senior ICE leadership.

"I interviewed countless individuals, because we wanted... someone that could also be confirmed," Mullin told Fox News. "And here you have Lance that was literally right in front of me the whole time."

The nomination drew sharp rebuke from Steve Bannon, the prominent MAGA media figure and former top adviser.

"ICE is an enormously complicated job," Bannon said. "And now with the heightened visibility on interior enforcement, it may be in the top three or four hardest jobs in government. You can't pick a cop from Oklahoma and think he's going to walk in and be able to do that, right? You're asking too much of somebody."

Mullin has also drawn criticism on other fronts. During a speech at the National Governors Association meeting in Oklahoma, Mullin signaled support for immigration reform, a remark that MAGA commentators interpreted as endorsing what they consider disguised amnesty for unauthorized immigrants. The term "immigration reform" has long been politically fraught within the Republican base, where many activists associate it with the failed 2013 Gang of Eight bill and similar legislative efforts that included pathways to legal status.

Additionally, following fatal officer-involved shootings in Texas and Maine this summer, Mullin backed a pause on ICE agents conducting vehicle stops to make arrests. President Trump swiftly reversed the directive, with Tom Homan's backing — a public override that itself signaled the limits of Mullin's authority over enforcement policy within his own department and reinforced Homan's outsize influence over immigration operations.

Mike Howell, a former DHS attorney who now leads the Mass Deportation Coalition advocacy group, offered a blunt assessment of Mullin's tenure. Mullin, he said, "certainly hasn't given any hope to the true believers... that the [deportation] numbers will go up."