Tricia McLaughlin, the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is set to leave her role next week, two U.S. officials told Politico.
McLaughlin has been one of the most visible faces of the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement push. She has frequently defended said policies on social media and the press.
Why is Tricia McLaughlin leaving?
According to Politico, McLaughlin had originally planned to leave DHS in December 2025. However, she delayed her exit to assist the department in managing fallout with the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
McLaughlin’s impending departure coincides with growing political criticism of the Trump administration’s harsh immigration enforcement policies.
There is a growing unrest among the Democrats in the Senate about the DHS funding for ICE and CBP, which has led to a temporary partial shutdown of the operations of DHS and ICE in terms of immigration policy.
Due to public outrage about the historic deployment of federal immigration agents to Minnesota and the Minneapolis murders, that response grew more intense in recent weeks.
McLaughlin often appeared on major networks, including Fox News, CNN, and CBS, as the department’s chief spokesperson to defend the administration’s immigration policies. She labelled Good’s actions “against” ICE as an example of “domestic terrorism.”
She told Cincinnati Enquirer, “Media is so much of the battle, so to speak, on the immigration issue. So much of the debate is a [public relations] debate. It’s a PR war.”
The White House and DHS have not officially confirmed her reasons for leaving beyond acknowledging her planned exit.
Who might replace McLaughlin?
According to Axios, McLaughlin’s deputy, Lauren Bis, who was hired early in Trump’s second term, will advance to the position of Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs.
Additionally, Richard Grenell’s adviser and Fox News pundit Katie Zacharia is joining DHS as the deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Public Affairs, Axios reported.
