DHS mouthpiece for Trump’s mass deportations is leaving administration

Tricia McLaughlin expected to leave Homeland Security in wake of Minnesota outrage

A prominent spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security and President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts is leaving the administration amid growing outrage over a violent surge of immigration officers in Minnesota, where federal agents fatally shot two people.

Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin is expected to leave the administration next week after informing colleagues about her plans Tuesday, The Independent has learned. Politico first reported the news of her departure.

The agency’s prolific statements, attributed to McLaughlin, have aggressively defended the administration’s actions, including in the aftermath of the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

McLaughlin initially sought to leave Homeland Security in December but delayed her exit to support the administration in the wake of the deaths, The Independent has learned.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed McLaughlin’s departure Tuesday afternoon, stating that she “ served with exceptional dedication, tenacity, and professionalism.”

Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin is leaving her post as a prominent spokesperson for the agency implementing Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts (Mikaela McGee/DHS)

“She has played an instrumental role in advancing our mission to secure the homeland and keep Americans safe,” according to Noem. “While we are sad to see her leave, we are grateful for her service and wish Tricia nothing but success.”

McLaughlin’s exit comes at a vulnerable moment for the administration which is facing blowback and declining public support for Trump’s sweeping efforts to quickly arrest and deport tens of thousands of people.

The 31-year-old Ohio native previously served as a communications aide to Vivek Ramaswamy during his 2024 presidential campaign. During the first Trump administration, she worked for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and at the State Department.

But she has risen to prominence alongside Noem as a combative voice of the sprawling federal agency that oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection.

As Homeland Security’s chief spokesperson, McLaughlin’s statements responded to high-profile arrests and deportations, allegations of families being ripped apart, violent use of force, and reports of poor and abusive conditions inside detention centers, among other issues.

Her faithful defense of the agency’s actions drew fire from Democratic opponents and critics while earning praise from Trump. Democratic Governor JB Pritzker, whose state of Illinois endured a surge of federal officers last year, called her a “pathological liar.”

McLaughlin’s critics have routinely accused her of spreading false information and misrepresenting immigrants’ backgrounds. Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York at one point told her to “go back to doing what she does best: gaslighting the American people.”

“Media is so much of the battle, so to speak, on the immigration issue,” McLaughlin told a newspaper in her hometown of Cincinnati last month. “So much of the debate is a [public relations] debate. It’s a PR war.”

McLaughlin was a top deputy to Homeland Security Kristi Noem through the first year of the second Trump administration, serving as a key mouthpiece for the president’s mass deportation efforts (REUTERS)

Hours after Pretti’s death, McLaughlin released a statement claiming that the 37-year-old ICU nurse, who was legally carrying a gun, had “violently resisted” arrest and was plotting to enact “maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

Top immigration enforcement officials last week testified that none of those characterizations came from them or their staff.

McLaughlin is the latest top DHS official to leave after a year in the second Trump administration. Last month, ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan stepped down from her role to run for a congressional seat in Ohio.

Speaking to The Cincinnati Enquirer last month, McLaughlin said she “wouldn’t rule anything out” when it came to running for office or entering local politics.

“I don’t know if that’s going to be a year from now or that'll be five years from now,” she said. “I love Cincinnati. It’s my home and I don’t think there's any place like it.”

Lauren Bis, one of McLaughlin’s deputies, is expected to be promoted to assistant secretary of public affairs in McLaughlin’s place.

Bis regularly posts “fact-checking” videos on X to combat what the administration calls “lies” from news outlets.