Charlotte Leadership Fails Citizens by Protecting Illegal Aliens, says DHS Official

By Brian Freeman | Monday, 17 November 2025 10:00 AM EST
Leadership in Charlotte, North Carolina, has failed its citizens by trying to protect illegal aliens who are in the city, said Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs, on Newsmax Monday.
McLaughlin told Newsmax’s “Wake Up America” that, “Charlotte is a beautiful place, but in this case, its leadership has absolutely failed it. We know that there are more than 1,400 criminal illegal aliens who are in their jails, and they refuse to turn over those individuals to ICE law enforcement.” She emphasized that this situation creates “a revolving door of justice, and these criminal illegal aliens will go back onto Charlotte’s streets” to commit more crime.
McLaughlin pointed out that “we are talking about people who pose real public security threats to the American people, and so, of course, we are surging resources there and we won’t stop until Charlotte is safer.” The DHS’ assistant secretary for public affairs also stressed that “if you’re obstructing justice then you can expect to be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
McLaughlin said that DHS was successful in its raids in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles despite similar leftist activists there. She said, “So as much as these activists and sanctuary-city politicians want to try to slow us down, want to try to obstruct our efforts, we have the mandate of the American people. We are enforcing the rule of law that is on the books of Congress, and we will continue to enforce the law and make America’s streets safer.”