A Democratic senator has a dire warning about President Donald Trump’s decision to replace Kristi Noem.
Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, who voted to confirm Noem as the Department of Homeland Security Secretary last year, said that he would not vote for Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. The reason? Stephen Miller.
“It’s really Stephen Miller that’s calling the shots there,” Kim, 43, told Politico on Tuesday. “I don’t trust anybody that’s in that role if Stephen Miller’s just going to continue to dictate what happens.”
Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, is widely known as the mastermind behind the second Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies.
The White House aide, 40, helped the White House frame the Minneapolis VA nurse Alex Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” and “assassin” mere hours after he was fatally shot by federal agents in January, and has worked hard to stoke anti-immigrant sentiments among Americans and the administration.
Miller is also responsible for the department’s deportation quotas, demanding last May that immigration officials arrest a minimum of 3,000 migrants every day.
Mullin, 48, defended ICE agents in the wake of the two fatal shootings of American citizens in Minneapolis, saying that “these patriots are doing a difficult job.”
Kim, who sits on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and is a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Disaster Management, District of Columbia, and Census, called out the architect of Trump’s immigration crackdown during a March 5 appearance on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins.
“As someone who’s had it up close and seen how this has unfolded at the Department of Homeland Security, it’s Stephen Miller who’s in charge,” he told host Kaitlan Collins. “It’s Stephen Miller that needs to be held accountable.”
Though Mullin will likely be confirmed on Wednesday, he is expected to be grilled by his fellow senators on several issues, including his frequent investment activity and his public feud with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, whom he called a “freaking snake” at a February fundraiser.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is the only Democrat who has committed to voting for Mullin, saying that he would be an improvement over Noem.
“Senator Mullin is perfectly suited to lead the Department of Homeland Security and work closely with President Trump to continue building on his many successes,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast in a statement.
“Whether it be protecting the homeland from bad actors, stopping dangerous drugs from flowing into American communities, or removing the worst-of-the-worst criminal illegal aliens, Senator Mullin will work tirelessly to implement the President’s agenda.”
Reached for comment, DHS referred the Daily Beast to Jackson’s statement.
The Daily Beast reached out to Kim’s office for comment.
