5 things to know about Trump's DHS pick Markwayne Mullin
1. He established a fairly conservative voting record on immigration in Congress
As detailed in the Congressional Biographical Directory, Mullin served in the U.S. House of Representatives for five terms. He was first elected to represent Oklahoma’s 2nd Congressional District in the eastern part of the state in 2012. He ran for and won a special U.S. Senate election in 2022 to finish the remainder of Sen. Jim Inhofe’s term. Mullin is currently running for a full six-year term in the U.S. Senate, but would have to abandon his reelection bid if he is confirmed by the Senate.
As a lawmaker with over a decade of experience serving in both chambers of the U.S. Congress, he has had the opportunity to vote on several pieces of immigration-related legislation. NumbersUSA, a right-leaning advocacy group that works to reduce immigration to the U.S., gives Mullin a lifetime score of “B-” on its scorecard evaluating lawmakers’ voting records on legislation it supports and opposes.
According to his NumbersUSA scorecard, Mullin has voted in favor of legislation that would stiffen penalties for criminal illegal immigrants, strengthen interior enforcement, fund border security, mandate the use of E-Verify to prevent the hiring of illegal immigrant workers, reduce asylum fraud, prevent amnesty, criminalize visa overstays, issue additional green cards, increase the number of guest workers in the U.S. and end sanctuary cities.
Mullin has also supported bills that would have increased refugee resettlement, increased the number of guest workers and allow illegal immigrants to get amnesty if they served in the military. These votes, combined with his failure to cosponsor certain legislation, lowered Mullin’s overall NumbersUSA score.
Mullin received scores of “C-” during his first two terms in the U.S. House while securing a record high score of “A” during his first two years in the U.S. Senate. In the current 119th U.S. Congress, Mullin has a score of “C+.” He has the 34th-highest score of all 100 U.S. senators. Among all seven members of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, all Republicans, Mullin has the lowest score.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
