OPINION:
President Trump isn’t afraid of shaking things up. Last week, the president announced he would nominate Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace Kristi Noem as head of the Department of Homeland Security. The Oklahoma Republican inherits an agency that is already doing a pretty good job at keeping the world’s uninvited from dropping in unannounced.
In 2023, the Border Patrol dealt with more than 2 million illegal aliens, most of whom were allowed to waltz in unimpeded. Under this administration, human smuggling operations are giving up. Monthly encounters at our southern border dwindled 91% from what they were when Democrats ran the show, according to the department.
The key statistic, however, is that zero people who tried to break in were granted “parole.” That was the trick that Presidents Biden and Obama used to let in as many future Democratic voters as possible during their terms. The new homeland security secretary needs to return those parolees to their home nations.
“A MAGA Warrior, and former undefeated professional MMA fighter, Markwayne truly gets along well with people, and knows the Wisdom and Courage required to Advance our America First Agenda,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to Mr. Mullin’s victory in three Xtreme Fight Night welterweight bouts.
Assuming his soon-to-be-former colleagues confirm him in the role, Mr. Mullin will have a slightly easier time managing the judicial resistance that has been the main impediment to removing those who have overstayed their welcome. Recent appellate court decisions will clear the way for doing just that.
On Friday, the traditionally liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court judge’s attempt to compel the admission of more than 100,000 foreigners into the United States. Judge Jamal N. Whitehead, an appointee of Mr. Biden, nullified the limits Mr. Trump placed on refugee admissions.
Judge Kenneth K. Lee wrote a partial dissent to remind the inferior courts of Alexander Hamilton’s words in Federalist No. 78 about the judiciary being the weakest branch of government.
“We … must not be seduced by the temptation of judicial resistance: District courts cannot stand athwart, yelling ‘stop’ just because they genuinely believe they are the last refuge against policies that they deem to be deeply unwise. Otherwise, we risk inching towards an imperial judiciary that lords over the President and Congress,” Judge Lee wrote.
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Judge Lee sympathizes with the plight of immigrants, but he knows it’s not the business of anyone who isn’t elected to decide who is admitted into the United States. Congress delegated that duty to the president. Voters selected Mr. Trump, not Mr. Biden, Kamala Harris or Judge Whitehead to exercise that duty.
Likewise, a 7th Circuit panel last week blasted a jurist appointed by Mr. Obama over her “overbroad, constitutionally suspect injunction” related to noncitizens. That order, they wrote, “effectively established the district court as the supervisor of all Executive Branch activity in the city of Chicago.”
A separate 9th Circuit panel stepped in Friday to freeze another magistrate’s bid to stop the administration from holding illegal aliens in custody until their petitions are heard, ensuring they don’t disappear after left-wing billionaires post their bail. The 5th Circuit has already upheld the new Justice Department detention policy as lawful.
With the judicial branch starting to recognize the need to rein in saboteurs within its ranks, expectations will be high for Mr. Mullin. He will have to ramp up operations to undo the damage done by Democrats.
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