John F. Kelly confirmed as homeland security secretary

The Senate confirmed John F. Kelly as secretary of homeland security on Friday, putting the blunt-spoken retired Marine general in charge of securing the nation’s borders, including construction of the controversial southwest border wall that was a centerpiece of President Trump’s campaign.

Senators approved Kelly’s nomination to run the Department of Homeland Security, a sprawling entity of more than 240,000 employees who do everything from protecting the president to safeguarding the nation’s electrical grid.

DHS will be at the forefront of some of the most highly charged parts of that agenda, including the wall, which would be designed to keep out illegal immigrants. Kelly appeared to play down the wall’s importance at his recent confirmation hearing, telling a Senate committee that “a physical barrier in and of itself will not do the job’’ and that technology such as drones and sensors are also needed to secure the border.

Kelly will also oversee Trump’s promised broader crackdown on undocumented immigrants, which Trump has said will include beefing up the numbers of border and immigration agents in an expensive and logistically difficult operation to remove millions of people from the country. Democrats and advocates for immigrants have vowed to fight any nationwide sweeps.

A widely respected officer who served for more than 40 years, Kelly won strong support from Republicans, who hailed his military experience and the border expertise he gained at Southern Command.

Democrats also spoke about him in mostly positive terms, though Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a member of the Senate committee, announced this week she would vote against him.

She cited Kelly’s “failure to provide assurances’’ to beneficiaries of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA.

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