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Tricia McLaughlin

pow // karo RACISM PENDING

MERRI OK

FIRED 2 26? PENSION?

DING DONG

AN 2 26

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin is out after some very public clashes with the facts over the past few months, Politico reported Tuesday.

McLaughlin has been called out by name by attorneys of those who encountered Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents in Minnesota and Illinois.

Frequently, McLaughlin falsely claims that the people harmed by ICE or CBP agents were attacking the agents or threatening them in some way. Videos have then come out showing the opposite is true, leaving many to question whether the agents lied to DHS or DHS was lying to the public.

Public opinion has soured on DHS since the shooting deaths of two people in Minneapolis. DHS was already suffering public outrage over the administration nabbing anyone and everyone it could, rather than what President Donald Trump promised in 2024: "the worst of the worst."

The White House set a 3,000-immigrant daily quota for DHS, resulting in the arrest ofgardeners, raids at construction sites, moms being snatched out of their front yard, and a number of those with valid visas, green cards, and more being mistakenly detained for months.

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

As Politico stated, "That PR war has left scars."

"Her exit comes amid unprecedented turbulence at DHS," Politico added.

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AI Overview

Former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin faced scrutiny regarding her husband, Benjamin Yoho, the CEO of The Strategy Group for Media. Investigations and congressional hearings probed whether Yoho’s firm improperly benefited from a multi-million-dollar DHS advertising campaign overseen during Kristi Noem's tenure. [1, 2, 3]

Key Background and Allegations

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dhs noem cory l

https://www.welch.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Sens.-Welch-and-Blumenthal-Letter-to-Smart-Media-LLC.pdf

3/16/2026

Mr. Kyle Roberts President and CEO Smart Media Group LLC 1427 Leslie Avenue #200 Alexandria, VA 22301

Dear Mr. Roberts, On February 13, 2025, Safe America Media LLC (Safe America Media) signed a no-bid contract ultimately worth $143 million to produce advertising campaigns for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).1 According to public reporting, Safe America Media then hired your company—Smart Media Group LLC (Smart Media)—to place these ads.2 We write to request information and records regarding Smart Media’s agreement with Safe America Media.

According to public reports, Smart Media has worked on multiple Republican political campaigns during the last decade with Corey Lewandowski, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s Chief Advisor. Smart Media has a subsidiary that received more than $329 million in 2024 from President Trump’s Political Action Committee while Mr. Lewandowski was advising the campaign’s senior leadership team.3

Smart Media also placed ads for Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry’s 2024 gubernatorial race while Mr. Lewandowski and People Who Think LLC—the other company selected by DHS as a prime contractor for the ad campaigns—were consultants for the Landry campaign.4 The company that hired Smart Media to complete the work for DHS, Safe America Media, which has no apparent office or website, was incorporated seven days before it received the $143 million agency contract.5

Safe America Media is registered to the personal address of Mike McElwain, a longtime Republican political operative.6 Pursuant to our responsibility to oversee DHS and federal contracting, our offices are reviewing allegations of misconduct arising from federal contract awards to assess whether and the extent...

In order to better understand the relationships between Smart Media, Safe America Media, and DHS political leadership, and to understand how $143 million in taxpayer dollars were spent, we request the following documents by March 23, 2026:

  1. A copy of any subcontract or other agreement with Safe America Media. 2. Any invoices Smart Media submitted to Safe America Media in connection with the DHS ad campaign, pursuant to a subcontract agreement or otherwise. 3. Any communication(s) between you or any agent of Smart Media and Safe America Media, or agents thereof, related to the production of the DHS ad campaign. 4.

Any communication(s) between you or any agent of Smart Media and any DHS personnel, including but not limited to Secretary Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

In addition, please provide detailed responses to the following questions: 1. When did Smart Media first communicate with Safe America Media about the potential of a contract? 2. Do you or Smart Media have any contractual, lobbying, or other relationship with Corey Lewandowski that refers or relates to this contract? If so, please provide any documentation regarding that relationship. 3. Did Smart Media directly or indirectly compensate—financially or otherwise—any DHS personnel, including but not limited to Special Government Employees, in connection with the DHS ad campaign?

  1. Please identify all individuals and firms that Smart Media compensated—financially or otherwise—in connection with the DHS ad campaign. 5. Has Smart Media received any other contracts or subcontracts for services connected to or solicited by DHS? If so, please identify the projects and provide a description of Smart Media’s involvement. 6. Does Smart Media intend to pursue additional DHS or other federal agency contracts or subcontracts? 7. Does Smart Media have a conflict of interest policy? If so, please provide the policy. If it does not maintain such a policy, explain why not. Sincerely,

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CONTEXT ACTIV SUPPRESS TERROR BS

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FAIL BUT WONDER IF THEY THINK SO

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An Illinois judge has ordered that all text messages and videos about the shooting of Marimar Martinez be turned over.

Martinez, from Chicago, was shot five times by federal agents during the so-called "Operation Midway Blitz" in which the federal government deployed thousands of agents to find and arrest immigrants.

The Martinez story is unique in that, even after the videos were released, the Department of Homeland Security continued to deny what was happening in them.

Federal courts reporter Jon Seidel from the Chicago Sun Times was in court on Friday to hear the case about Martinez presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Georgia Alexakis.

Martinez and her attorney have argued that they need access to the text messages and videos from the federal agents in the case and the government is refusing to turn those over.

Alexakis asked about the text messages by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum: "Is the universe of text messages limited to the text messages that I reviewed in camera?"

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron DeWald confirmed that they were.

As her lawyer told CNN, Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin continues to insist that the federal agents were "boxed in" by cars and couldn't get away. In fact, there was no one in front of them and Martinez's car went around them on the left to get past their vehicle. That's when the agent fired on her.

That "is in direct contrast to this DHS statement that she at the agent," said lawyer Christopher Parente. "And you know, DHS, even though you said the agent testified in court that there was no ramming. Tricia McLaughlin and DHS are still putting out press statements saying that she rammed them. They don't even seem to know what their own agents are saying in court."

One of the agents later took a "trophy" photo of Martinez after she was released from the hospital.

The judge specifically cited McLaughlin's comments as the basis for releasing the agent's text messages.

Judge Alexakis stated, "The Department of Homeland Security continues to allege that Ms. Martinez ambushed federal officers, rammed them with her vehicle, and while doing so was armed with a semiautomatic weapon."

"Agent Exum's text messages provide insight into his perspective of the shooting," she continued. "They bear on his credibility. They provide insight into how others within DHS leadership and within other government entities responded to the shooting."

She ultimately ruled that the Martinez team had shown "good cause" for releasing the text messages from the agent.

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The Trump administration is using secretive orders to crackdown on dissent

SARAH MCL

Imagine finding out that the government is issuing secretive orders to unearth your personal information and then sending federal agents to question you — all because you sent an email criticizing the life-or-death decisions the government makes.

That sounds like something out of China, Russia or the increasingly dystopian United Kingdom, right? Well this time, it’s happening here.

The Trump administration is reportedly abusing oversight-free administrative subpoenas to chill protected speech. Recent targets include a man who sent an email criticizing efforts to deport an Afghan man on humanitarian parole seeking asylum.

Our right to express ourselves, particularly in ways that displease the government, is under attack — sometimes echoing authoritarian censorship efforts abroad.

While subpoenas have been used to chill speech across numerous presidencies, the way this administration is using them, and the broader repressive pattern they are part of, should disturb all Americans. As The Washington Post reported this week, a Philadelphia-area retiree wrote an email to a federal prosecutor last year asking him to “[a]pply principles of common sense and decency” to the deportation case of an Afghan man, who feared death at the hands of the Taliban. Only the retiree’s first name, Jon, is given, as he fears for his safety.

Only hours later, to Jon’s shock, he received a notice from Google that the company had received a subpoena compelling the release of identifying information, including older account activity and his physical address. The Department of Homeland Security issued an administrative subpoena, which doesn’t require the oversight of a judge or grand jury, to get Jon’s information. DHS attempted a similar stunt to target internet commenters who posted about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

That was not Jon’s only brush with DHS. Agents would also soon show up at his door with a copy of the email he’d sent and ask him to explain himself.

There is no better guarantee of the right to speak and criticize our government than the First Amendment, which stands as guard between us and the power of the state. But our right to express ourselves, particularly in ways that displease the government, is under attack — sometimes echoing authoritarian censorship efforts abroad. Americans must understand that with enough time and pressure, even the strongest of foundations can weather down to dust.

These administrative subpoenas intended to unmask critics of government action are just the tip of the speech-chilling iceberg.

Between these disturbing allegations, recent alarming on-camera encounters between civilians and law enforcement and the ceaseless incursions from the Trump administration against our First Amendment rights, Americans must recognize that the United States is failing as a bulwark for liberty in a world increasingly bereft of it.

Alex Pretti’s death at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis last month was deeply alarming. Rather than immediately commit to an intensive investigation of what took place, officials such as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem spread the unfounded claim that Pretti tried to “kill” law enforcement. Senior adviser Stephen Miller called Pretti an “assassin” who “tried to murder federal agents.” The administration has since started to shy away from these fantastical claims after Americans could watch the video for themselves.

Their narrative might still stand, however, had protesters nearby not caught the shooting on camera from multiple angles. But that First Amendment right to film law enforcement is increasingly under attack. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said filming and posting videos of ICE is “doxing our agents” and the government “will prosecute those who illegally harass ICE agents to the fullest extent of the law.” Pretti himself had been recording agents with his cell phone moments before he was killed.

U.S. federal agents also appear to be creating a database to track protesters and observers who are legally and peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights. In an encounter a woman filmed in Maine, an ICE agent told her he’s recording her information for a “nice little database” for “domestic terrorists” like her. A CNN report confirms a DHS memo informing agents to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form.” News of this database follows in the footsteps of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s plan to crack down on “domestic terror organizations,” using a framework that targets broad ideologies such as “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity” as markers of political violence rather than constitutionally protected beliefs.

You may be familiar with lists of alleged anti-government activists from their other iterations in Belarus, Russia and China. The lists are frightening. What governments do with them is usually even worse.

The distance between freedom and tyranny is shrinking fast — and so is our window to combat it.

And many Americans were rightfully shocked by a “60 Minutes” exposé of German censorship last year, which included raids on the homes of social media users who had insulted politicians, and by regular reports from other nations such as the U.K., where a late-night knock at the door from police has become disturbingly commonplace. In Germany, the government treats insults to politicians more, not less, harshly than other forms of insult, essentially exempting the powerful from upsetting speech.

That’s the opposite of how we view political speech in the U.S. — with great power must come a thick skin.

But the Trump administration doesn’t see it that way. In fact, ICE and DHS leadership have undertaken a concerted effort in recent months to pervert the concept of “doxing,” the sharing of identifying information about an individual, into one so broad it includes simply saying the name of the men and women who serve as armed agents of the state. Administration officials have repeatedly — and wrongly — suggested this “doxing” is illegal.

Imagine a United States in which federal agents have the authority to fire their weapons as representatives of the government, and yet everyday Americans aren’t even free to state clearly who or where those agents are. Even worse, those same Americans may find themselves on a clandestine government database for engaging in protected speech. Or, like Jon, they could even face a secretive administrative subpoena followed by a knock at the door from DHS agents.

“Secret police” cannot be a necessary term in the American vernacular, but if we do not stem the tide of these First Amendment violations and transgressions, it may become one. The distance between freedom and tyranny is shrinking fast — and so is our window to combat it.

The post The Trump administration is using secretive orders to crackdown on dissent appeared first on MS NOW.

This article was originally published on ms.now

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Despite denials from a senior Trump administration official, secret watchlists of Americans are being used by federal agencies to track and categorize US citizens—especially protesters, activists, and critics of law enforcement—as “domestic terrorists,” investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reported Wednesday.

Klippenstein said that two senior national security officials speaking on condition of anonymity told him that there are over a dozen “secret and obscure” watchlists that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI are using to track anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and pro-Palestine protesters, antifa-affiliated individuals, and “others who are promiscuously labeled ‘domestic terrorists.’”

“I can reveal for the first time,” he wrote, “that some of the secret lists and applications go by codenames like Bluekey, Grapevine, Hummingbird, Reaper, Sandcastle, Sienna, Slipstream, and Sparta (including the ominous sounding HEL-A and HEL-C reports generated by Sparta).”

“Some of these, like Hummingbird, were created to vet and track immigrants, in this case Afghans seeking to settle in the United States,” Klippenstein explained. “Slipstream is a classified social media repository. Others are tools used to link people on the streets together, including collecting on friends and families who have nothing to do with any purported lawbreaking.”

“There’s practically nothing available that further describes what these watchlists do, how large they are, or what they entail,” he added.

Klippenstein’s revelation seemingly flies in the face of DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin’s recent denial that the administration has a database containing the names of people accused of domestic terrorism.

“There’s just one problem: She’s lying,” wrote Klippenstein.

Many observers already thought as much, especially after a masked federal enforcer taunted an anti-ICE protester in Maine by telling her that “we have a nice little database, and now you’re considered a domestic terrorist.”

White House “border czar” Tom Homan—who was recently sent to Minnesota to oversee the anti-immigrant blitz following the departure of Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino amid outrage over the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti—also said this month that “we’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding, and assault, we’re going to make them famous.”

Reporting Tuesday that Pretti—the nurse who was disarmed and then shot dead by federal enforcers in Minneapolis last week—was known to Trump officials after a previous encounter in which agentsbroke his rib raised further questions about government watchlists.

“We came out of 9/11 with the notion that we would have a single ‘terrorist’ watch list to eliminate confusion, duplication, and avoid bad communications, but ever since January 6, not only have we expanded exponentially into purely domestic watchlisting, but we have also created a highly secretive and compartmented superstructure that few even understand,” a DHS attorney “intimately familiar” with the matter told Klippenstein on condition of anonymity, referring to the deadly January 2021 Capitol insurrection.

According to Klippenstein:

Prior to 9/11, there were nine federal agencies that maintained 12 separate watchlists. Now, officially there are just three: a watch list of 1.1 million international terrorists, a watch list of more than 10,000 domestic terrorists maintained by the FBI, and a new watch list of transnational criminals, built up to more than 85,000 over the past decade...Among other functions, the new watchlists process tips, situation reports, and collected photographs and video submitted by both the public and from agents in the field; they create a “common operating picture” in places like Minneapolis; they allow task forces to target individuals for surveillance and arrest; and they create the capacity for intelligence people to link individuals together through geographic proximity or what is labeled “call chaining” by processing telephone numbers, emails, and other contact information.

Asked about how the Trump administration might try to legally justify these watchlists, Rachel Levinson-Waldman, the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program director, cited President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memo 7 (NSPM-7), which mandates a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.”

Levinson-Waldman also noted Attorney General Pam Bondi’s December 5 memo directing federal agencies to expand the investigation and prosecution of “domestic terrorism,” including groups “aligned” with antifa, an anti-fascist ideology that does not exist as an organization.

One senior intelligence official who confirmed the existence of the watchlists warned Klippenstein: “Lists of this and that—this social media post, that video taken of someone videoing ICE, the mere attendance at a protest—gets pulsed by federal cops on the beat to check for criminality but eventually just becomes a list itself of criminality, with the cops thinking that indeed they are dealing with criminals and terrorists. Watchlists, and the whole watchlisting process, should be as transparent as possible, not the other way around.”

“If we don’t explore more why all of these secret lists exist,” the official added, there could be “even more of an environment of paranoia on the ground and more tragic killings.”

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Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts
The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rules for the taxpayer-funded campaign.

by Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan and Alex Mierjeski

November 14, 2025,

IFrame Content

On Oct. 2, the second day of the government shutdown, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived at Mount Rushmore to shoot a television ad. Sitting on horseback in chaps and a cowboy hat, Noem addressed the camera with a stern message for immigrants: “Break our laws, we’ll punish you.” [BUFFALO?]

Noem has hailed the more than $200 million, taxpayer-funded ad campaign as a crucial tool to stem illegal immigration. Her agency invoked the “national emergency” at the border as it awarded contracts for the campaign, bypassing the normal competitive bidding process designed to prevent waste and corruption.

The Department of Homeland Security has kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure ad deal a secret, records and interviews show: a Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at DHS. The company running the Mount Rushmore shoot, called the Strategy Group, does not appear on public documents about the contract. The main recipient listed on the contracts is a mysterious Delaware company, which was created days before the deal was finalized.

No firm has closer ties to Noem’s political operation than the Strategy Group. It played a central role in her 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial campaign. Corey Lewandowski, her top adviser at DHS, has worked extensively with the firm. And the company’s CEO is married to Noem’s chief spokesperson at DHS, Tricia McLaughlin.

The Strategy Group’s ad work is the first known example of money flowing from Noem’s agency to businesses controlled by her allies and friends.

Government contracting experts said the depth of the ties between DHS leadership and the Strategy Group suggested major potential violations of ethics rules.

“It’s corrupt, is the word,” said Charles Tiefer, a leading authority on federal contract law and former member of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said that the Strategy Group’s role should prompt investigations by both the DHS inspector general and the House Oversight Committee.

“Hiding your friends as subcontractors is like playing hide the salami with the taxpayer,” Tiefer added.

Federal regulations forbid conflicts of interest in contracting and require that the process be conducted “with complete impartiality and with preferential treatment for none.”

“It’s worthy of an investigation to ferret out how these decisions were made, and whether they were made legally and without bias,” said Scott Amey, a contracting expert and general counsel at the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight.

The revelations come as the amount of money at Noem’s disposal has skyrocketed. The so-called Big Beautiful Bill granted DHS more than $150 billion, and Noem has given herself an unusual degree of control over how that money is spent. This summer, she began requiring that she personally approve any payment over $100,000.

Asked about the Strategy Group’s work for DHS, McLaughlin, the agency spokesperson, said in an interview, “We don’t have visibility into why they were chosen.”

“I don’t know who they’re a subcontractor with, but I don’t work with them because I have a conflict of interest and I fully recused myself,” she said. “My marriage is one thing and work is another. I don’t combine them.” Her husband, Strategy Group CEO Ben Yoho, didn’t respond to questions.

“My marriage is one thing and work is another. I don’t combine them,” said DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin, who is married to Strategy Group CEO Ben Yoho. Tricia McLaughlin via Instagram

In a written statement, DHS said, “DHS has no involvement with the selection of subcontractors.” They added that the Strategy Group does not have a direct contract with the agency, saying “DHS cannot and does not determine, control, or weigh in on who contractors hire.”

Contracting experts said that agencies can and do sometimes require that subcontractors be approved by officials. It’s not clear how much the Strategy Group has been paid.

This is not the first time that the Strategy Group has gotten public money through a Noem contract. As governor of South Dakota in 2023, her administration set off a scandal by hiring the Ohio-based company to do a different ad campaign, paying it $8.5 million in state funds. While the state said the contract was done by the book, a former Noem administration official told ProPublica that Noem quietly intervened to ensure the Strategy Group got the deal. ProPublica granted some people anonymity to discuss the deals because of their sensitivity.

The firm also paid up to $25,000 to one of Noem’s closest advisers in South Dakota, previously unreported records show. (The adviser, 28-year-old Madison Sheahan, now serves at DHS as the second-in-command of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sheahan didn’t respond to questions about why she was paid.)

The DHS ad that the company filmed at Mount Rushmore has aired during “Fox & Friends” in recent days. Executives from the Strategy Group traveled to the shoot and hired subcontractors to fill out the film crew, according to records and a person involved in the campaign. The ad’s aesthetic sits somewhere between a political campaign ad and a Jeep commercial as Noem tells would-be immigrants to “come here the right way.”

“From the cowboys who tamed the West to the titans who built our cities,” Noem says, as images of Trump Tower in Chicago and Trump raising his fist after the assassination attempt last year flash on the screen, “America has always rewarded vision and grit.” Noem continues: “You cross the border illegally, we’ll find you.”

Watch the DHS Ad Filmed at Mount Rushmore

Obtained by ProPublica

The ad is the latest in a campaign that Noem debuted in February, just a few weeks after she took charge of DHS. “Any delay in providing these critical communications to the public will increase the spread of misinformation, especially misinformation by smugglers,” the agency wrote, explaining why it was skipping the competitive bidding process normally required for government contracts. The initial ads featured Noem thanking Trump for securing the border.

The contracts total $220 million so far, leading the DHS ad budget to triple in the most recent fiscal year, according to Bloomberg. The lion’s share of ad contracts is typically used to buy TV airtime or spots on social media. Advertising firms make money by taking an often-hefty commission. Federal records show the contracts have gone to two firms. One is a Republican ad company in Louisiana called People Who Think, which has been awarded $77 million.

But the majority of the money — $143 million — has gone to a mysterious LLC in Delaware. The company was created just days before it was awarded the deal.

Little is known about the Delaware company, which is called Safe America Media and lists its address as the Virginia home of a veteran Republican operative, Michael McElwain. McElwain has long had his own advertising company (separate from the Delaware one), but there’s little evidence that firm could handle a nine-figure federal contract on its own: It reported just five employees when it received COVID-19 relief money a few years ago.

How, where and to whom Safe America Media doled out the $143 million is unknown. Any subcontractors hired to do work on the DHS ads are not disclosed in federal contracting databases.

The office funding the ad contracts is listed as the DHS Office of Public Affairs, which is run by McLaughlin, contract records show. McLaughlin married Yoho, the Strategy Group CEO, earlier this year.

In its statement, DHS said the agency does its contracting “by the book” and the process is run by career officials. “It is very sad that Pro Publica would seek to defame these public servants,” DHS added.

Asked about why the agency chose Safe America Media, DHS said, “The results speak for themselves: the most secure border in American history and over 2 million illegal aliens exiting the United States.” McElwain and People Who Think didn’t respond to questions.

Yoho was still in college when he first served as campaign manager for a U.S. congressman. Now, at 38 years old, he’s a national player in the cutthroat industry of political advertising. Federal election records show tens of millions in payments to his firm during the 2024 election cycle, coming from dozens of Republican congressional candidates. And Noem has proved a particularly lucrative client.

Lewandowski brought Yoho into Noem’s inner circle back in South Dakota, according to two people familiar with the matter, putting the young consultant in charge of the ad side of her 2022 gubernatorial reelection campaign. Noem had a more than $5 million advertising budget for the race, records show. After she won in a landslide, Yoho, who has called Noem a friend, came to South Dakota to attend her inauguration ceremony. He sat off to the side of the stage, next to Lewandowski. (Lewandowski didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

Yoho shared a photo of himself with Noem and her husband, Bryon, at Noem’s 2023 inauguration in South Dakota. Benjamin Yoho via X

By then, Yoho’s next big project with Noem was already in the works. In late 2022, Noem was quietly preparing to launch another sprawling ad campaign — only this time, the money would come from state coffers. The stated goal was to encourage workers to move to South Dakota. The upcoming contract opportunity wasn’t public yet, but Yoho was already involved in planning the campaign, according to records first reported by Sioux Falls Live.

Then on Jan. 12, 2023, Yoho’s company registered to do business in South Dakota under the name Go West Media. The next day, the contract opportunity went live.

Seven companies submitted proposals for the project. Then the pressure from above set in, according to a former Noem administration official involved in the process.

The former official said a top Noem aide told them the governor would be angry if Yoho’s company didn’t win the contract. “He was very direct: ‘She wants to do it,’” they said. Contemporaneous text messages reviewed by ProPublica corroborate that senior Noem administration officials pushed for Yoho to get the contract. Eventually, he did. (In its statement, DHS denied that Noem influenced the process.)

Noem starred in Yoho’s ads herself,dressing up as a dentist,a plumber anda state trooper as she touted her state’s growing economy. Exactly how much Yoho and the Strategy Group made off the $8.5 million deal is unclear. Some of the money was used to purchase spots on Fox News, including one during a Republican presidential debate. Some of the money appears to have gone back to South Dakota — into the bank account of another of Noem’s top advisers.

Noem in costume in ads she starred in that were produced by the Strategy Group, funded with public money in South Dakota. South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development via YouTube

Sheahan, now the second-in-command at ICE, was paid up to $25,000 by Go West in 2023 for “consulting,” according to a financial disclosure document Sheahan later filed. At the time, Sheahan was serving as both the operations director for Noem as governor and the political director for Noem’s campaign work, according to a copy of her 2023 resume obtained by ProPublica. Her responsibilities included coordinating “daily logistics and operations” for Noem and her team, the resume said. She also managed the “relationship with high level donors” to American Resolve, Noem’s network of outside political groups.

As his firm received millions from the South Dakota state government, Yoho separately continued to work for Noem in other capacities. He worked under Lewandowski on the publicity campaign for Noem’s 2024 memoir, according to a person familiar with the matter. (The book became famous for including an anecdote about Noem shooting her dog.)

The Strategy Group also received a stream of payments for social media consulting and media production work over the last few years from Noem’s American Resolve PAC. Federal election records show the PAC made its last payment to Yoho’s company this February, a couple weeks after Noem took her post as the head of DHS.

Corrections

{Do you have any information we should know about Kristi Noem or DHS contracts? Justin Elliott can be reached by email atjustin@propublica.organd by Signal or WhatsApp at 774-826-6240. Josh Kaplan can be reached by email atjoshua.kaplan@propublica.organd by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383.*}:

Jeff Ernsthausen contributed research.

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ABC News reports the Border Patrol official in charge of Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago admitted to lying about a thrown rock before launching tear gas at protesters.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said Thursday that Patrol Commander Greg Bovino fabricated claim s about the Oct. 23 incident, which was caught on camera with Bovino throwing a gas canister at demonstrators in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood without giving a verbal warning — a violation of the judge's earlier temporary restraining order limiting the use of force, the judge said. That same day, the judge issued a preliminary injunction limiting the use of force during immigration arrests and protests.

"Mr. Bovino and the Department of Homeland Security claimed that he had been hit by a rock in the head before throwing the tear gas, but video evidence disproves this. And he ultimately admitted he was not hit until after he threw the tear gas," Ellis said.

DHS initially defended Bovino's actions saying that a Border Patrol transport van transporting undocumented immigrants was attacked by demonstrators.

"The mob of rioters grew more hostile and violent, advancing toward agents and began throwing rocks and other objects at agents, including one that struck Chief Greg Bovino in the head," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an October statement.

But Bovino proved McLaughlin’s statement incorrect.

ABC News reached out to DHS in the aftermath of Bovino’s confession but DHS officials responded by criticizing the judge's decision to grant a preliminary injunction.

“This injunction is an extreme act by an activist judge that risks the lives and livelihoods of law enforcement officers,” the official said.

Commenters on X slammed Bovino’s dishonesty.

“I’d sure as s—— go to jail if had lied about my actions,” posted retired veteran Scott Warhin on X.

“In any other era in America, Greg Bovino would immediately be fired for flagrantly lying under oath in court,” complained another critic on X. “But Trump loves criminals and miscreants. America has had enough of this s—— show.”

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*These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

When Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stormed through Santa Ana, California, in June, panicked calls flooded into the city’s emergency response system.

Recordings of those calls, obtained by ProPublica, captured some of the terror residents felt as they watched masked men ambush people and force them into unmarked cars. In some cases, the men wore plain clothes and refused to identify themselves. There was no way to confirm whether they were immigration agents or imposters. In six of the calls to Santa Ana police, residents described what they were seeing as kidnappings.

“He’s bleeding,” one caller said about a person he saw yanked from a car wash lot and beaten. “They dumped him into a white van. It doesn’t say ICE.”

One woman’s voice shook as she asked, “What kind of police go around without license plates?”

And then this from another: “Should we just run from them?”

During a tense public meeting days later, Mayor Valerie Amezcua and the City Council asked their police chief whether there was anything they could do to rein in the federal agents — even if only to ban the use of masks. The answer was a resounding no. Plus, filing complaints with the Department of Homeland Security was likely to go nowhere because the office that once handled them had been dismantled. There was little chance of holding individual agents accountable for alleged abuses because, among other hurdles, there was no way to reliably learn their identities.

Since then, Amezcua, 58, said she has reluctantly accepted the reality: There are virtually no limits on what federal agents can do to achieve President Donald Trump’s goal of mass deportations. Santa Ana has proven to be a template for much larger raids and even more violent arrests in Chicago and elsewhere. “It’s almost like he tries it out in this county and says, ‘It worked there, so now let me send them there,’” Amezcua said.

Current and former national security officials share the mayor’s concerns. They describe the legions of masked immigration officers operating in near-total anonymity on the orders of the president as the crossing of a line that had long set the United States apart from the world’s most repressive regimes. ICE, in their view, has become an unfettered and unaccountable national police force. The transformation, the officials say, unfolded rapidly and in plain sight. Trump’s DHS appointees swiftly dismantled civil rights guardrails, encouraged agents to wear masks, threatened groups and state governments that stood in their way, and then made so many arrests that the influx overwhelmed lawyers trying to defend immigrants taken out of state or out of the country.

And although they are reluctant to predict the future, the current and former officials worry that this force assembled from federal agents across the country could eventually be turned against any groups the administration labels a threat.

One former senior DHS official who was involved in oversight said that what is happening on American streets today “gives me goosebumps.”

Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, the official rattled off scenes that once would’ve triggered investigations: “Accosting people outside of their immigration court hearings where they’re showing up and trying to do the right thing and then hauling them off to an immigration jail in the middle of the country where they can’t access loved ones or speak to counsel. Bands of masked men apprehending people in broad daylight in the streets and hauling them off. Disappearing people to a third country, to a prison where there’s a documented record of serious torture and human rights abuse.”

The former official paused. “We’re at an inflection point in history right now and it’s frightening.”

Although ICE is conducting itself out in the open, even inviting conservative social media influencers to accompany its agents on high-profile raids, the agency operates in darkness. The identities of DHS officers, their salaries and their operations have long been withheld for security reasons and generally exempted from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. However, there were offices within DHS created to hold agents and their supervisors accountable for their actions on the job. The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, created by Congress and led largely by lawyers, investigated allegations of rape and unlawful searches from both the public and within DHS ranks, for instance. Egregious conduct was referred to the Justice Department.

The CRCL office had limited powers; former staffers say their job was to protect DHS by ensuring personnel followed the law and addressed civil rights concerns. Still, it was effective in stalling rushed deportations or ensuring detainees had access to phones and lawyers. And even when its investigations didn’t fix problems, CRCL provided an accounting of allegations and a measure of transparency for Congress and the public.

The office processed thousands of complaints — 3,000 in fiscal year 2023 alone — ranging from allegations of lack of access to medical treatment to reports of sexual assault at detention centers. Former staffers said around 600 complaints were open when work was suspended.

The administration has gutted most of the office. What’s left of it was led, at least for a while, by a 29-year-old White House appointee who helped craft Project 2025, the right-wing blueprint that broadly calls for the curtailment of civil rights enforcement.

Meanwhile, ICE is enjoying a windfall in resources. On top of its annual operating budget of $10 billion a year, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill included an added $7.5 billion a year for the next four years for recruiting and retention alone. As part of its hiring blitz, the agency has dropped age, training and education standards and has offered recruits signing bonuses as high as $50,000.

“Supercharging this law enforcement agency and at the same time you have oversight being eliminated?” said the former DHS official. “This is very scary.”

Michelle Brané, a longtime human rights attorney who directed DHS’ ombudsman office during the Biden administration, said Trump’s adherence to “the authoritarian playbook is not even subtle.”

“ICE, their secret police, is their tool,” Brané said. “Once they have that power, which they have now, there’s nothing stopping them from using it against citizens.”

Tricia McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, refuted descriptions of ICE as a secret police force. She called such comparisons the kind of “smears and demonization” that led to the recent attack on an ICE facility in Texas, in which a gunman targeted an ICE transport van and shot three detained migrants, two of them fatally, before killing himself.

In a written response to ProPublica, McLaughlin dismissed the current and former national security officials and scholars interviewed by ProPublica as “far-left champagne socialists” who haven’t seen ICE enforcement up close.

“If they had,” she wrote, “they would know when our heroic law enforcement officers conduct operations, they clearly identify themselves as law enforcement while wearing masks to protect themselves from being targeted by highly sophisticated gangs” and other criminals.

McLaughlin said the recruiting blitz is not compromising standards. She wrote that the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center is ready for 11,000 new hires by the beginning of next year and that training has been streamlined and boosted by technology. “Our workforce never stops learning,” McLaughlin wrote.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson also praised ICE conduct and accused Democrats of making “dangerous, untrue smears.”

“ICE officers act heroically to enforce the law, arrest criminal illegal aliens and protect American communities with the utmost professionalism,” Jackson said. “Anyone pointing the finger at law enforcement officers instead of the criminals are simply doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens and fueling false narratives that lead to violence.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Trump pick who fired nearly the entire civil rights oversight staff, said the move was in response to CRCL functioning “as internal adversaries that slow down operations,” according to a DHS spokesperson.

Trump also eliminated the department’s Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman, which was charged with flagging inhumane conditions at ICE detention facilities where many of the apprehended immigrants are held. The office was resurrected after a lawsuit and court order, though it’s sparsely staffed.

The hobbling of the office comes as the White House embarks on an aggressive expansion of detention sites with an eye toward repurposing old jails or building new ones with names that telegraph harsh conditions: “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades, built by the state and operated in partnership with DHS, or the “Cornhusker Clink” in Nebraska.

“It is a shocking situation to be in that I don’t think anybody anticipated a year ago,” said Erica Frantz, a political scientist at Michigan State University who studies authoritarianism. “We might’ve thought that we were going to see a slide, but I don’t think anybody anticipated how quickly it would transpire, and now people at all levels are scrambling to figure out how to push back.”

“Authoritarian Playbook”

Frantz and other scholars who study anti-democratic political systems in other countries said there are numerous examples in which ICE’s activities appear cut from an authoritarian playbook. Among them was the detention of Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was apprehended after co-writing an op-ed for the campus paper that criticized the school’s response to the war in Gaza. ICE held her incommunicado for 24 hours and then shuffled her through three states before jailing her in Louisiana.

“The thing that got me into the topic of ‘maybe ICE is a secret police force’?” said Lee Morgenbesser, an Australian political science professor who studies authoritarianism. “It was that daylight snatching of the Tufts student.”

Morgenbesser was also struck by the high-profile instances of ICE detaining elected officials who attempted to stand in their way. Among them, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was detained for demanding a judicial warrant from ICE, and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a DHS press conference.

And David Sklansky, a Stanford Law School professor who researches policing and democracy, said it appears that ICE’s agents are allowed to operate with complete anonymity. “It’s not just that people can’t see faces of the officers,” Sklansky said. “The officers aren’t wearing shoulder insignia or name tags.”

U.S. District Judge William G. Young, a Ronald Reagan appointee, recently pointed out that use of masked law enforcement officers had long been considered anathema to American ideals. In a blistering ruling against the administration’s arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters, he wrote, “To us, masks are associated with cowardly desperados and the despised Ku Klux Klan. In all our history we have never tolerated an armed masked secret police.” The Trump administration has said it will appeal that ruling.

Where the Fallout is Felt

The fallout is being felt in places like Hays County, Texas, not far from Austin, where ICE apprehended 47 people, including nine children, during a birthday celebration in the early morning of April 1.

The agency’s only disclosure about the raid in Dripping Springs describes the operation as part of a yearlong investigation targeting “members and associates believed to be part of the Venezuelan transnational gang, Tren de Aragua.”

Six months later, the county’s top elected official told ProPublica the federal government has ignored his attempts to get answers.

“We’re not told why they took them, and we’re not told where they took them,” said County Judge Ruben Becerra, a Democrat. “By definition, that’s a kidnapping.”

In the raid, a Texas trooper secured a search warrant that allowed law enforcement officers to breach the home, an Airbnb rental on a vast stretch of land in the Hill Country. Becerra told ProPublica he believes the suspicion of drugs at the party was a pretense to pull people out of the house so ICE officers who lacked a warrant could take them into custody. The Texas Department of Public Safety did not respond to a request for comment.

The Trump administration has yet to produce evidence supporting claims of gang involvement, said Karen Muñoz, a civil rights attorney helping families track down their relatives who were jailed or deported. While some court documents are sealed, nothing in the public record verifies the gang affiliation DHS cited as the cause for the birthday party raid.

“There’s no evidence released at all that any person kidnapped at that party was a member of any organized criminal group,” Muñoz said.

McLaughlin, the DHS spokesperson, did not respond to questions about Hays County and other raids where families and attorneys allege a lack of transparency and due process.

In Plain Sight

Months after ICE’s widely publicized raids, fear continues to envelop Santa Ana, a majority-Hispanic city with a large immigrant population. Amezcua, the mayor, said the raids have complicated local policing and rendered parents afraid to pick up their children from school. The city manager, a California-born citizen and Latino, carries with him three government IDs, including a passport.

Raids of car washes and apartment buildings continue, but the community has started to “push back,” Amezcua said. “Like many other communities, the neighbors come out. People stop in the middle of traffic.”

With so few institutional checks on ICE’s powers, citizens are increasingly relying on themselves. On at least one occasion in nearby Downey, a citizen’s intervention had some effect.

On June 12, Melyssa Rivas had just started her workday when a colleague burst into her office with urgent news: “ICE is here.”

The commotion was around the corner in Rivas’ hometown, a Los Angeles suburb locals call “Mexican Beverly Hills” for its stately houses and affluent Hispanic families. Rivas, 31, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, belongs to Facebook groups where residents share updates about cultural festivals, church programs and, these days, the presence of Trump’s deportation foot soldiers.

Rivas had seen posts about ICE officers sweeping through LA and figured Downey’s turn had come. She and her co-worker rushed toward the sound of screaming at a nearby intersection. Rivas hit “record” on her phone as a semicircle of trucks and vans came into view. She filmed at least half a dozen masked men in camouflage vests encircling a Hispanic man on his knees.

Her unease deepened as she registered details that “didn’t seem right,” Rivas recalled in an interview. She said the parked vans had out-of-state plates or no tags. The armed men wore only generic “police” patches, and most were in street clothes. No visible insignia identified them as state or federal — or even legal authorities at all.

“When is it that we just decided to do things a different way? There’s due process, there’s a legal way, and it just doesn’t seem to matter anymore,” Rivas said. “Where are human rights?”

Video footage shows Rivas and others berating the officers for complicity in what they called a “kidnapping.” Local news channels later reported that the vehicles had chased the man after a raid at a nearby car wash.

“I know half of you guys know this is fucked up,” Rivas was recorded telling the officers.

Moments later, the scene took a turn. As suddenly as they’d arrived, the officers returned to their vehicles and left, with no apology and no explanation to the distraught man they left on the sidewalk.

Through a mask, one of them said, “Have a good day.”

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They Don’t Care About Civil Rights”: Trump’s Shuttering of DHS Oversight Arm Freezes 600 Cases, Imperils Human Rights
The closure of the 150-person office, which protected the civil rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens, strips Homeland Security of its internal guardrails as the Trump administration turns DHS into a mass-deportation machine, analysts say.

by J. David McSwane and Hannah AllamApril 8, 2025,

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

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On Feb. 10, more than a dozen Department of Homeland Security officials joined a video conference to discuss an obscure, sparsely funded program overseen by its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. The office, charged with investigating when the national security agency is accused of violating the rights of both immigrants and U.S. citizens, had found itself in the crosshairs of Elon Musk’s secretive Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

It began as a typical briefing, with Homeland Security officials explaining to DOGE a program many describe as a win-win. It had provided some $20 million in recent years to local organizations that provide case workers to keep people in immigration proceedings showing up to court, staff explained, without expensive detentions and ankle monitors.

DOGE leader Kyle Schutt, a technology executive who developed a GOP online fundraising platform, interrupted. He wanted Joseph Mazzara, DHS’s acting general counsel, to weigh in. Mazzara was recently appointed to the post after working for Ken Paxton as both an assistant solicitor general and member of the Texas attorney general’s defense team that beat back public corruption charges.

Schutt had a different interpretation of the program, according to people who attended or were briefed on the meeting.

“This whole program sounds like money laundering,” he said.

Mazzara went further. His facial expressions, his use of profanity and the way he combed his fingers through his hair made clear he was annoyed.

“We should look into civil RICO charges,” Mazzara said.

DHS staff was stunned. The program had been mandated by Congress, yet Homeland Security’s top lawyer was saying it could be investigated under a law reserved for organized crime syndicates.

“I took it as a threat,” one attendee said. “It was traumatizing.”

For many in the office, known internally as CRCL, that moment was a dark forecast of the future. Several said they scrambled to try to fend off the mass firings they were seeing across the rest of President Donald Trump’s administration. They policed language that Trump’s appointees might not like. They hesitated to open complaints on hot-button cases. They reframed their work as less about protecting civil rights and more about keeping the department out of legal trouble.

None of it worked. On March 21, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem shut down the office and fired most of the 150-person staff. As a result, about 600 civil rights abuse investigations were frozen.

“All the oversight in DHS was eliminated today,” one worker texted after the announcement that they’d been fired.

Eight former CRCL officials spoke with ProPublica about the dismantling of the office on the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution. Their accounts come at a time when the new administration’s move to weaken oversight of federal agencies has faced legal challenges in the federal courts. In defending its move to shut CRCL, the administration said it was streamlining operations, as it has done elsewhere. “DHS remains committed to civil rights protections but must streamline oversight to remove roadblocks to enforcement,” said DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

CRCL staff “often functioned as internal adversaries to slow down operations,” McLaughlin added. She did not address questions from ProPublica about the February meeting. Mazzara and Schutt did not reply to requests for comment.

The office’s closure strips Homeland Security of a key internal check and balance, analysts and former staff say, as the Trump administration morphs the agency into a mass-deportation machine. The civil rights team served as a deterrent to border patrol and immigration agents who didn’t want the hassle and paperwork of an investigation, staff said, and its closure signals that rights violations, including those against U.S. citizens, could go unchecked.

The office processed more than 3,000 complaints in fiscal year 2023 — on everything from disabled detainees being unable to access medical care to abuses of power at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and reports of rape at its detention centers. For instance, following reports that ICE had performed facial recognition searches on millions of Maryland drivers, a CRCL investigation led the agency to agree to new oversight; case details have been removed from the DHS website but are available in the internet archive. The office also reported to Congress that it had investigated and confirmed allegations that a child, a U.S. citizen traveling without her parents between Mexico and California, had been sexually abused by Customs and Border Protection agents during a strip search.

Those cases would have gone nowhere without CRCL, its former staffers said.

“Nobody knows where to go without CRCL, and that’s the point,” a senior official said. Speaking of the administration, the official went on, “They don’t want oversight. They don’t care about civil rights and civil liberties.”

The CRCL staff, most of them lawyers, emphasized that their work is not politically motivated, nor is it limited to immigration issues. For instance, sources said the office was investigating allegations that disaster aid workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency had skipped over houses that displayed signs supporting Trump during the 2024 election.

“The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties touches on everyone,” one fired employee said. “There’s this perception that we’re only focused on immigrants, and that’s just not true.”

Uncertainty and Panic

The final days of the civil rights office unfolded in a cloud of uncertainty and panic, as with other federal offices getting “RIF’d,” the Beltway verb for the government’s “reduction in force.”

Staff members described the weeks before the shutdown as a whittling away of their work. Dozens of investigative memos posted online in a transparency initiative? Deleted from the site. The eight-person team on racial equity issues? Immediately placed on leave. Travel funds to check conditions at detention centers? Reduced to $1.

As fear intensified that the civil rights office would be dismantled, staff tried to lie low. Leaders told staff to stop launching investigations that came from media reports, previously a common avenue for inquiries. Now, only official complaints from the public would be considered.

Staff was particularly frustrated that under this new mandate it couldn’t open an official investigation into the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and legal resident who was arrested for participating in protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

CRCL staff was unable to open an investigation into Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest after they were told to stop launching investigations that came from media reports. Credit:Bing Guan/The New York Times/Redux

With dozens of employees spread across branches or working remotely, many civil rights staffers had never met their colleagues — until the Trump administration’s return-to-office order forced them to come in five days a week. By early March, when reality had sunk in that their jobs were likely to be eliminated, they began quietly organizing, setting up encrypted Signal chat groups and sharing updates on lawsuits filed by government workers in other agencies.

“It’s inspiring how federal employees are pushing back and connecting,” one worker said.

Beyond Trump’s mandate to remove all references to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, leaders told staff to omit from memos words such as “however,” which might sound combative, or “stakeholders,” which came across as too warm and fuzzy.

“Daily life was one miserable assignment after the next,” a staffer said. The orders coming down from Trump appointees were intended to “basically tell us how to undo your office.”

In what would be the last days of the office, the atmosphere was “chilling” and “intimidating.” Some personnel froze, too afraid to make recommendations, while others risked filing new investigations in final acts of defiance.

When the news came on a Friday that they were all being fired, civil rights staff were told they couldn’t issue any out-of-office reply, one former senior official said.

They are still technically employees, on paid leave until May 23. Many have banded together and are exploring legal remedies to get their jobs back. In the interim, if complaints are coming in, none of the professionals trained to receive them are around.

What’s Been Lost

Days after the meeting in which allegations of money laundering and organized crime were loosely thrown at CRCL employees, the program in question was shut down. That effort had essentially earmarked money to local charities to provide nonviolent immigrants with case workers who connect them to services such as human trafficking screening and information on U.S. law. Created by Congress in 2021, the goal was to keep immigrants showing up to court.

Now, Trump’s DHS is suggesting the case worker program is somehow involved in human smuggling. Erol Kekic, a spokesperson for the charity the federal government hired to administer funds in that program, said Church World Services received a “weirdly worded letter” that baffled the organization’s attorneys.

“They said there could be potential human trafficking,” he said, referring to DHS. “But they didn’t accuse us directly of it.”

The nonprofit is working on its response, he said.

Elsewhere, the absence of Homeland Security’s civil rights oversight is already reverberating.

With their office closed, CRCL staff now fear the hypotheticals: At ports of entry, Americans’ Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizure are relaxed; if CBP abuses its power to root through phones and laptops, who will investigate? And if DHS began arresting U.S. citizens for First Amendment protected speech? Their office would have been the first line of defense.

As an example of cases falling through the cracks, CRCL staff told ProPublica they had recommended an investigation into the deportation of a Lebanese professor at Brown University who was in the country on a valid work visa. Federal prosecutors said in court she was detained at an airport in Boston in connection with “sympathetic photos and videos” on her phone of leaders of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Reuters reported she told border authorities she did not support Hezbollah but admired the group’s deceased leader Hassan Nasrallah for religious reasons.

Staff also wanted to look into the case of a 10-year-old girl recovering from brain cancer who, despite being a U.S. citizen, was deported to Mexico along with her parents when they hit an immigration checkpoint as they rushed to an emergency medical visit.

In Colorado, immigration attorney Laura Lunn routinely filed complaints with CRCL, saying pleas with ICE officials at its Aurora detention center were often ignored. Those complaints to CRCL have stopped her clients from being illegally deported, she said, or gotten emergency gynecological care for a woman who had been raped just before being detained.

But now, she asks, “Who do I even go to when there are illegal things happening?”

Lunn’s group, the Rocky Mountain Immigration Advocacy Network, has also joined in large group complaints about inadequate medical care, COVID-19 isolation policies and access to medical care for a pod of transgender inmates.

She’s among those trying to find clients who were housed in the Aurora facility but have mysteriously disappeared. Her clients had pending proceedings, she said, yet were summarily removed, something she’d never seen in 15 years of immigration law.

“Ordinarily, I would file a CRCL complaint. At this moment, we don’t have anyone to file a complaint to,” Lunn said.

That sort of mass deportation is something CRCL would have inspected. In fact, staff members said they had just launched a review into Trump’s increased use of Guantanamo Bay to detain migrants, an inquiry which now appears to have vanished.

A new camp site where the Trump administration plans to house thousands of undocumented migrants at Guantánamo Bay, seen in February 2025. A recent CRCL review of the administration’s use of Guantanamo Bay has vanished. Credit:Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux

In New Mexico, immigration lawyer Sophia Genovese said she’s filed more than 100 CRCL complaints, helping her secure medical care and other services for sick and disabled people.

She said she has several pending complaints, including one about a detainee who has stomach cancer but can’t get medication stronger than ibuprofen and another involving an HIV-positive patient who hasn’t been able to see a doctor.

“CRCL was one of the very few tools we had to check ICE, to hold ICE accountable,” Genovese said. “Now you see them speeding to complete authoritarianism.”

Filed under —

[

J. David McSwane

I write about national issues, including everything from health care to business to civil rights issues.

I want to hear from current and former federal workers, lawyers and advocates — really anyone who sees an injustice worth investigating.

Hannah Allam

-

From Washington, I cover national security issues, with a focus on militant movements and counterterrorism efforts.

I’m interested in tips about counterterrorism, court cases involving surveillance or civil liberties, national security personnel changes, threat assessments and the proximity of extremist movements to federal power.

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MMA

This segment exemplifies how Fox feeds garbage anti-immigrant slop to its audience

A recent appearance by Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin illustrates how the network pushes bad “worst of the worst” data

Written by John Knefel

Published 08/08/25

Right-wing media have worked symbiotically with President Donald Trump’s administration to manufacture false media narratives of immigrant criminality and to justify subsequent crackdowns on those communities. A recent segment on Fox Business’ Mornings With Maria Bartiromo perfectly illustrates this dynamic, as guest host Cheryl Casone enabled a Homeland Security spokesperson to uncritically spread a baseless statistic to bolster the administration’s claim that it’s pursuing the so-called “worst of the worst.”

:{:{Video}:

Citation

From the August 4, 2025, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria Bartiromo

On August 4, Casone introduced Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin by discussing legal challenges Trump has faced in carrying out his mass deportation plans.

“What is the path forward here from the legal side, from the attorneys at DHS, to make sure that these deportations continue to be carried out as the American public had asked for?” Casone said.

(This framing is already misleading — in mid-July, polls from CNN and CBS News both found that a majority of respondents oppose the administration’s increased deportation program.)

After assuring the Fox Business’ audience that Trump’s targeting of immigrants had nothing to do with “racial animus,” McLaughlin moved on to what has become a common administration talking point to claim Trump’s policies “are focused on criminality.”

(Meanwhile, DHS recently asked the Supreme Court to allow ICE agents to use factors like speaking Spanish or working in construction as a partial basis for reasonable suspicion that a person is in the country without authorization.)

“Seventy percent of those illegal aliens who have been arrested under the Trump administration either have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges,” McLaughlin said. “So we are focused on getting people like MS-13 gang members, Tren de Aragua, terrorists, murderers, rapists — the worst of the worst out of this country.”

“We will keep on going, flooding the zone in sanctuary cities, and going after the worst of the worst,” she added.

The data point that McLaughlin cited — which Casone didn’t challenge — appears to have first been used in a DHS press release on June 26. DHS has used the statistic in at least seven press releases since then, and Trump “border czar” Tom Homan — the most frequent administration official to appear on the Fox networks since Trump's inauguration — has repeated it numerous times across right-wing media.

As Media Matters previously reported, the statistic appears to be false based on independent sources that collect federal data.

According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which is frequently cited in media and legal publications for collecting government data, “71.1% [of detainees] held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction according to data current as of July 27, 2025. Many of those convicted committed only minor offenses, including traffic violations.” TRAC further notes that just 24% of ICE detainees had pending criminal charges as of July 13.

Reports from CBS News and The Associated Press have found comparable numbers.

When Homan has recently claimed that 70% of ICE arrestees are criminals, he has sometimes added that the remaining 30% are “national security threats.” This figure appears to be the product of his own imagination. In some of statements, he has lumped in immigrants with final orders of removal alongside so-called terrorists and gang members to pad his statistic.

A CBS News report last month found that since the beginning of Trump’s second term, “3,256 of the more than 100,000 people removed were known or suspected gang members or terrorists.” That’s about 3% — not 30% — and databases that purport to list “terrorists” or “gang members” are notoriously inaccurate.

A news outlet that was interested in giving its audience reliable information might include any of that context when interviewing a Trump administration immigration official, but that's not the role Fox was created to serve.

//

  1. ### Inside the alliance between right-wing media and Trump “Border Czar” Tom Homan

08/07/25 9:09 AM EDT

  1. ### Right-wing media's campaign against due process for immigrants

08/05/25 3:30 PM EDT

  1. ### Fox News scoffed that Andry Hernandez was “just a gay barber” when Trump sent him to a torture prison. Now, Fox ignores reporting that he was sexually assaulted there.

08/04/25

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threat to arrest aGAIN : “ALL OPTIONS ON TABLE”

7 25 trump hegs deploy nat gd usmc in LA

7.8/25 APC horse battle rattle griffin pk? kids summer camp

bbart

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an 5 25 states SN

The Trump administration knew that the vast majority of the 238 Venezuelan immigrants it sent to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in mid-March had not been convicted of crimes in the United States before it labeled them as terrorists and deported them, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security data that has not been previously reported.

*By Mica Rosenberg, ProPublica, Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, Melissa Sanchez and Gabriel Sandoval, ProPublica, Ronna Rísquez, Alianza Rebelde Investiga, and Adrián González, Cazadores de Fake News

President Donald Trump and his aides have branded the Venezuelans as “rapists,” “savages,” “monsters” and “the worst of the worst.” When multiple news organizations disputed those assertions withreporting that showed many of the deportees did not have criminal records, the administration doubled down. It said that its assessment of the deportees was based on a thorough vetting process that included looking at crimes committed both inside and outside the United States. But the government’s own data, which was obtained by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and a team of journalists from Venezuela, showed that officials knew that only 32 of the deportees had been convicted of U.S. crimes and that most were nonviolent offenses, such as retail theft or traffic violations.

The data indicates that the government knew that only six of the immigrants were convicted of violent crimes: four for assault, one for kidnapping and one for a weapons offense. And it shows that officials were aware that more than half, or 130, of the deportees were not labeled as having any criminal convictions or pending charges; they were labeled as only having violated immigration laws.

As for foreign offenses, our own review of court and police records from around the United States and in Latin American countries where the deportees had lived found evidence of arrests or convictions for 20 of the 238 men. Of those, 11 involved violent crimes such as armed robbery, assault or murder, including one man who the Chilean government had asked the U.S. to extradite to face kidnapping and drug charges there. Another four had been accused of illegal gun possession.

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We conducted a case-by-case review of all the Venezuelan deportees. It’s possible there are crimes and other information in the deportees’ backgrounds that did not show up in our reporting or the internal government data, which includes only minimal details for nine of the men. There’s no single publicly available database for all crimes committed in the U.S., much less abroad. But everything we did find in public records contradicted the Trump administration’s assertions as well.

ProPublica and the Tribune, along with Venezuelan media outlets Cazadores de Fake News (Fake News Hunters) and Alianza Rebelde Investiga (Rebel Alliance Investigates), also obtained lists of alleged gang members that are kept by Venezuelan law enforcement officials and the international law enforcement agency Interpol. Those lists include some 1,400 names. None of the names of the 238 Venezuelan deportees matched those on the lists.

The hasty removal of the Venezuelans and their incarceration in a third country has made this one of the most consequential deportations in recent history. The court battles over whether Trump has the authority to expel immigrants without judicial review have the potential to upend how this country handles all immigrants living in the U.S., whether legally or illegally. Officials have suggested publicly that, to achieve the president’s goals of deporting millions of immigrants, the administration was considering suspending habeas corpus, the longstanding constitutional right allowing people to challenge their detention.

Hours before the immigrants were loaded onto airplanes in Texas for deportation, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, declaring that the Tren de Aragua prison gang had invaded the United States, aided by the Venezuelan government. It branded the gang a foreign terrorist organization and said that declaration gave the president the authority to expel its members and send them indefinitely to a foreign prison, where they have remained for more than two months with no ability to communicate with their families or lawyers.

Lee Gelernt, the lead attorney in the American Civil Liberties Union’s legal fight against the deportations, said the removals amounted to a “blatant violation of the most fundamental due process principles.” He said that under the law, an immigrant who has committed a crime can be prosecuted and removed, but “it does not mean they can be subjected to a potentially lifetime sentence in a foreign gulag.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in response to our findings that “ProPublica should be embarrassed that they are doing the bidding of criminal illegal aliens who are a threat,” adding that “the American people strongly support” the president’s immigration agenda.

When asked about the differences between the administration’s public statements about the deportees and the way they are labeled in government data, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin largely repeated previous public statements. She insisted, without providing evidence, that the deportees were dangerous, saying, “These individuals categorized as ‘non-criminals’ are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gang members and more — they just don’t have a rap sheet in the U.S.”

As for the administration’s allegations that Tren de Aragua has attempted an invasion, an analysis by U.S. intelligence officials concluded that the gang was not acting at the direction of the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro and that reports suggesting otherwise were “not credible.” Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, fired the report’s authors after it became public. Her office, according to news reports, said Gabbard was trying to “end the weaponization and politicization” of the intelligence community.

Our investigation focused on the 238 Venezuelan men who were deported on March 15 to CECOT, the prison in El Salvador, and whose names were on a list first published by CBS News. The government has also sent several dozen other immigrants there, including Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who the government admitted was sent there in error. Courts have ruled that the administration should facilitate his return to the U.S.

We interviewed about 100 of the deportees’ relatives and their attorneys. Many of them had heard from their loved ones on the morning of March 15, when the men believed they were being sent back to Venezuela. They were happy because they would be back home with their families, who were eager to prepare their favorite meals and plan parties. Some of the relatives shared video messages with us and on social media that were recorded inside U.S. detention facilities. In those videos, the detainees said they were afraid that they might be sent to Guantanamo, a U.S. facility on Cuban soil where Washington has held and tortured detainees, including a number that it suspected of plotting the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Trump administration had sent planes carrying Venezuelan immigrants there earlier this year.

They had no idea they were being sent to El Salvador.

Among them was 31-year-old Leonardo José Colmenares Solórzano, who left Venezuela and his job as a youth soccer coach last July. His sister, Leidys Trejo Solórzano, said he had a hard time supporting himself and his mother and that Venezuela’s crumbling economy made it hard for him to find a better paying job. Colmenares was detained at an appointment to approach the U.S.-Mexico border in October because of his many tattoos, his sister said. Those tattoos include the names of relatives, a clock, an owl and a crown she said was inspired by the Real Madrid soccer club’s logo.

Colmenares was not flagged as having a criminal history in the DHS data we obtained. Nor did we find any U.S. or foreign convictions or charges in our review. Trejo said her brother stayed out of trouble and has no criminal record in Venezuela either. She described his expulsion as a U.S.-government-sponsored kidnapping.

“It’s been so difficult. Even talking about what happened is hard for me,” said Trejo, who has scoured the internet for videos and photos of her brother in the Salvadoran prison. “Many nights I can’t sleep because I’m so anxious.”

The internal government data shows that officials had labeled all but a handful of the men as members of Tren de Aragua but offered little information about how they came to that conclusion. Court filings and documents we obtained show the government has relied in part on social media posts, affiliations with known gang members and tattoos, including crowns, clocks, guns, grenades and Michael Jordan’s “Jumpman” logo. We found that at least 158 of the Venezuelans imprisoned in El Salvador have tattoos. But law enforcement sources in the U.S., Colombia, Chile and Venezuela with expertise in the Tren de Aragua told us that tattoos are not an indicator of gang membership.

McLaughlin, the DHS spokesperson, said the agency is confident in its assessments of gang affiliation but would not provide additional information to support them.

John Sandweg, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said, “for political reasons, I think the administration wants to characterize this as a grand effort that’s promoting public safety of the United States.” But “even some of the government’s own data demonstrates there is a gap between the rhetoric and the reality,” he said, referring to the internal data we obtained.

The government data shows 67 men who were deported had been flagged as having pending charges, though it provides no details about their alleged crimes. We found police, court and other records for about 38 of those deportees. We found several people whose criminal history differed from what was tagged in the government data. In some cases that the government listed as pending criminal charges, the men had been convicted and in one case the charge had been dropped before the man was deported.

Our reporting found that, like the criminal convictions, the majority of the pending charges involved nonviolent crimes, including retail theft, drug possession and traffic offenses.

Six of the men had pending charges for attempted murder, assault, armed robbery, gun possession or domestic battery. Immigrant advocates have said removing people to a prison in El Salvador before the cases against them were resolved means that Trump, asserting his executive authority, short-circuited the criminal justice system.

Take the case of Wilker Miguel Gutiérrez Sierra, 23, who was arrested in February 2024 in Chicago on charges of attempted murder, robbery and aggravated battery after he and three other Venezuelan men allegedly assaulted a stranger on a train and stole his phone and $400. He pleaded not guilty. Gutiérrez was on electronic monitoring as he awaited trial when he was arrested by ICE agents who’d pulled up to him on the street in five black trucks, court records show. Three days later he was shipped to El Salvador.

But the majority of men labeled as having pending cases were facing less serious charges, according to the records we found. Maikol Gabriel López Lizano, 23, was arrested in Chicago in August 2023 on misdemeanor charges for riding his bike on the sidewalk while drinking a can of Budweiser. His partner, Cherry Flores, described his deportation as a gross injustice. “They shouldn’t have sent him there,” she said. “Why did they have to take him over a beer?”

*Jeff Ernsthausen of ProPublica contributed data analysis. Adriana Núñez and Carlos Centeno contributed reporting.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/30/trump-el-salvador-deportees-criminal-convictions-cecot-venezuela/.

:{:{The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.}:

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Biographical

the hill

Sen. Josh Hawley(R-Mo.) may not often be found at the center of bipartisan negotiations.

But this spring, he helped shepherd a major bipartisan achievement through, co-sponsoring a bill to reauthorize and expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) that passed the Senate in a filibuster-proof 69-30 vote.

And his communications director, Abigail Jackson, was a key part in getting the measure through.

The 1990 law, which expired earlier this year, financially compensates Americans exposed to nuclear radiation by the federal government during World War II and its aftermath. Hawley’s bill, co-sponsored with Sens. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), would extend the law and expand its geographical coverage.

Jackson, who joined Hawley’s office as press secretary in 2021 before taking her current position in 2023, said there were a number of moving parts to messaging around the bill.

“The biggest hurdle we had to get over at the beginning was helping people understand what RECA was,” she said. “A lot of people on the Hill hadn’t even heard of this program or weren’t familiar with it. It wasn’t a phrase that was just thrown around and everyone immediately knew what it was.”

Also key to the communications side of things was centering the voices of people who would benefit from the bill, and would suffer from its expiration, from community activists in St. Louis to members of the Navajo Nation who live downwind of former test sites.

The role of a communications staffer, she said, is “about figuring out how to get them in front of the press and just to share their stories and creating opportunities for them to be able to talk about their experiences.”

There was also a bit of good timing, she added: the release last summer of Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning biopic “Oppenheimer,” which ensured that wartime nuclear testing was already part of the cultural conversation while they were whipping support for the bill.

“That provided us kind of a natural hook to talk about, hey, everyone’s talking about Oppenheimer, but what about all of these other people who are bearing the consequences of what you’ve learned about there?” Jackson said.

Tags Ben Ray LujanJosh Hawley

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Department of Homeland Security (DHS)'s Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin faced criticism on social media after stating that a United States citizen, who was wrongfully arrested by border authorities in Arizona earlier this month, was subjected to action because he had claimed not to be a U.S. citizen.

"The narrative being pushed about Jose Hermosillo is false. On April 8, Hermosillo approached Border Patrol in Tucson and stated he had entered the U.S. illegally through Nogales. He said he wanted to turn himself in and completed a sworn statement identifying as a Mexican citizen who had entered unlawfully," McLaughlin wrote on the social platform X on Monday.

"He was processed and appeared in court on April 11. Afterward, he was held by the U.S. Marshals in Florence, AZ. A few days later, his family presented documents showing U.S. citizenship. The charges were dismissed, and he was released to his family. This arrest was the direct result of Hermosillo’s own actions and statements," she continued.

ALSO READ:Trump giving prisoners fewer rights than they had in World War II internment camps: analyst

Reacting to McLaughlin's post, political podcaster and former Obama advisor, Jon Favreau said, "Yeah, U.S. citizens love to tell Border Patrol they’re here illegally so they can spend ten days in detention. It’s just a fun prank."

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, said the DHS's justification was "mind-boggling."

"Mind-boggling that DHS's official position on this case is genuinely that a US citizen dad from Albuquerque visiting family in Tucson went up to a Border Patrol agent and said "Hi, I'm a Mexican man who entered here illegally, please deport me." Do they think we are dumb?" hewrote on X.

Matt Van Swol, a former nuclear scientist for the U.S. Energy Department,said, "I'm baffled why anyone would give a sworn statement, willingly to Border Patrol, saying they were in fact NOT a US Citizen. What could possibly be the explanation for why someone would do that?"

ALSO READ:'It’s just that simple': Rubio admits to jailing immigrants for their political views

A social media user wrote, "Ok Tricia, this defies reason. Why would a US citizen claim to not be a citizen? Why is it so difficult for this administration to admit they sometimes make mistakes?"

According to court documents and media reports, immigration authorities held a U.S. citizen in Arizona for close to 10 days. As initially reported by the NPR affiliate Arizona Public Media, 19-year-old Jose Hermosillo, a resident of New Mexico who was visiting Arizona, was apprehended by border patrol agents in Nogales, a city located about an hour south of Tucson near the Mexico border.

ALSO READ:'The Southern border is under attack': Trump orders US military to take over strip of land

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Tricia McLaughlin has emerged as one of the most influential figures in Republican political circles in recent years. As the Senior Advisor and Communications Director for Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 Presidential Campaign, McLaughlin plays a pivotal role in shaping the candidate’s public image and political messaging. A seasoned strategist with a wealthy communications, public affairs, and political campaign background, she is an indispensable force in the Republican Party. This article will explore McLaughlin’s career, her connection to Vivek Ramaswamy, and her influence on the 2024 election.

Table of Contents

Who Is Tricia McLaughlin?

Tricia McLaughlin is a political strategist and communications expert based in Cincinnati, Ohio. She serves as Vivek Ramaswamy’s senior advisor and communications director for the presidential campaign. McLaughlin has garnered a reputation as a brilliant political communicator, having worked with key political figures, including Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted, and with institutions such as the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of the Treasury. Her ability to navigate high-stakes political environments has made her an influential figure in the Republican Party.

Tricia McLaughlin’s Role in Vivek Ramaswamy’s Campaign

McLaughlin’s career significantly turned when she joined Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign in 2023. As the campaign manager and Senior Advisor, she has been instrumental in building the campaign’s communications strategy from the ground up. Ramaswamy, a political outsider and billionaire entrepreneur, needed a team capable of presenting his ideas to the American people and helping him break through the crowded Republican field.

McLaughlin, with her deep understanding of Republican values and messaging, helped shape Ramaswamy’s media presence and crafted his approach to critical issues. She has worked tirelessly to align his campaign with conservative principles while highlighting his unique perspective on national security, economic policy, and healthcare reform. Her expertise has been vital in developing campaign materials, speeches, and public appearances, allowing Ramaswamy to stand out in a competitive race for the Republican nomination.

Background and Career of Tricia McLaughlin

Tricia McLaughlin’s political career spans a variety of roles and responsibilities. A graduate of the University of Maryland, McLaughlin majored in Political Science and Government, setting the stage for her future in politics. Early in her career, McLaughlin worked with political consultants and offices, including several internships that provided valuable hands-on experience in government and political strategy.

After completing her degree, McLaughlin took on senior roles in the Ohio Republican Party. Her time as Director of Communications allowed her to shape the messaging for Republican candidates in Ohio, a critical battleground state. McLaughlin also worked closely with Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted on their re-election campaigns, reinforcing her position as one of the top Republican strategists in the state.

Her experience didn’t stop there. McLaughlin moved to Washington, D.C., where she served in key positions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of State. At the Treasury, she was Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, leading communications efforts on critical financial and national security issues. She also worked as Chief of Staff for the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Nuclear Arms Control, demonstrating her ability to handle sensitive political issues at the highest levels of government.

Tricia McLaughlin’s Influence in Republican Politics

As a Republican strategist, McLaughlin has become one of the party’s leading voices. Her ability to understand the needs of conservative voters and communicate with them effectively has made her a sought-after advisor. Whether working on state-level campaigns or advising national issues, McLaughlin’s insights have proven invaluable to Republican candidates nationwide.

In addition to her work with Ramaswamy, McLaughlin has been closely associated with prominent Republican figures like Donald Trump and has frequently appeared on conservative platforms such as Fox News and CNN. Her media presence has helped solidify her as a recognizable figure in Republican circles, known for her direct approach and candid political analysis.

Tricia McLaughlin’s Key Contributions to Republican Messaging

One of McLaughlin’s greatest strengths is her ability to craft clear, compelling messages for Republican candidates. Her work at the Ohio Republican Party and on Governor DeWine’s re-election campaign showcased her ability to shape narratives that resonate with conservative voters. McLaughlin understands the pulse of the Republican base, and she is skilled at turning complex policy discussions into digestible soundbites that connect with the American people.

As communications director for the Vivek Ramaswamy campaign, McLaughlin has played a significant role in framing Ramaswamy’s policy positions on issues such as U.S. foreign policy, economic reforms, and healthcare. She has ensured that his message aligns with the values of traditional Republican voters while simultaneously appealing to a new generation of conservatives looking for a fresh approach.

Tricia McLaughlin and Her Relationship with Donald Trump

McLaughlin’s political ties to Donald Trump are well documented. As a senior advisor to the Ohio Republican Party and a respected strategist in the conservative movement, McLaughlin has supported Trump-aligned candidates and policies. Her ability to navigate the complex dynamics of the Republican Party and work with different factions within it has made her a valuable asset to Trump-era Republicans.

While McLaughlin has focused primarily on state-level and local campaigns, her experience with Trump’s political operatives and her work in national politics has cemented her as an influential Republican strategist. Her balanced and pragmatic approach has made her a key figure in the modern Republican establishment.

Tricia McLaughlin’s Age and Personal Life

As for Tricia McLaughlin’s age, details about her personal life remain relatively private. However, it is known that she is a relatively young professional in the political world, and her work reflects both ambition and a solid drive to influence the direction of the Republican Party. McLaughlin’s early career highlights, including her time with the University of Maryland College Park and her experience at J.P. Morgan, demonstrate her versatility and ability to excel in different fields, from finance to political communication.

There is little public information about McLaughlin’s husband or family in terms of her personal life, as she tends to maintain a low profile on these matters. What’s clear, however, is that McLaughlin is fully dedicated to her work in politics and public service.

Tricia McLaughlin’s Role in the 2024 Election

As Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign manager, Tricia McLaughlin will continue to play a crucial role in shaping the direction of his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. Her deep connections within the Republican Party and her proven track record in communications and political strategy give Ramaswamy’s campaign a strong foundation as it seeks to challenge the establishment candidates for the Republican nomination.

Her expertise in navigating media and public relations will be instrumental as Ramaswamy seeks to differentiate himself from the field of Republican contenders, including Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. The 2024 election promises to be a fierce battle, and Tricia McLaughlin’s strategic advice will undoubtedly play a significant role in the outcome.

Conclusion

Tricia McLaughlin’s career as a Republican strategist and communications expert has made her one of the key players in American politics today. From her pivotal role in Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 campaign to her experience with high-profile Republican leaders like Mike DeWine and Donald Trump, McLaughlin’s expertise is shaping the future of the Republican Party. Her continued influence in the 2024 election will undoubtedly make her one of the most influential figures in the years to come. As the Republican Party evolves and the battle for the White House intensifies, McLaughlin’s guidance will be critical in driving the party forward.

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Communications DirectorCommunications Director The Ohio Republican Party · Full-timeThe Ohio Republican Party · Full-timeMar 2021 - Jan 2022 · 11 mosMar 2021 to Jan 2022 · 11 mos

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Noem's Homeland Security 'unapologetic' about using lie-detector test on suspected intel leakers

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Judge orders Trump admin to return Maryland alleged gang member deported to El Salvador

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TodayThe Department of Homeland Security is "unapologetic" about using lie-detector tests on staffers as it aims to snuff out "leakers" who feed internal agency information to the public, Fox News Digital learned. "Under Secretary Noem's leadership, DHS is unapologetic about its efforts to root out leakers that undermine national security," Tricia McLaughlin, DHS' assistant ...

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Kamala Harris is going to 'filibuster' for most of this ... - Fox News

Sep 9, 2024Tricia McLaughlin and Roma Daravi join 'Fox News @ Night' to discuss how former President Trump is nationally polling ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris.

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##Getting Caught Up | Tricia McLaughlin episode - YouTube

Political strategist and former press secretary for the Vivek Ramaswamy presidential campaign Tricia McLaughlin discusses the state of the 2024 presidential ...

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Jul 22, 2023Trump surrogate Karoline Leavitt and Tricia McLaughlin, senior adviser for Vivek Ramaswamy, discuss key issues in the 2024 election on 'Fox News Live.'

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https://www.foxnews.com › video › 6364709293112

Democrats pushing back on Trump's Cabinet picks - Fox News

Nov 14, 2024Republican strategist Carly Bird and former Ramaswamy senior adviser Tricia McLaughlin weigh in on President-elect Donald Trump's choices for his Cabinet during a 'Fox News @ Night' appearance.

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Tricia McLaughlin: If we can make this election about ... - Fox Business

Aug 23, 2024Panelists Tricia McLaughlin and Brianna Lyman discuss division ahead of the 2024 election on 'Making Money.' ... Watch the live stream of Fox News and full episodes. Authorize

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https://www.bolnews.com › viral › 2024 › 08 › who-is-tricia-mclaughlin-personal-and-professional-life-unveiled

Who is Tricia McLaughlin? Personal and Professional Life ... - BOL News

Aug 16, 2024While Tricia McLaughlin keeps much of her personal history under wraps, she has shared glimpses of her family life on social media, celebrating moments like her parents' 30th wedding anniversary. Born and raised in the U.S., Tricia attended Sycamore High School before pursuing a degree in Political Science and Government at the University of ...

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She's the 'least accessible' presidential candidate in ... - Fox Business

Sep 6, 2024Panelists Caroline Downey and Tricia McLaughlin discuss how Kamala Harris' campaign is working to continue her scripted rally speeches on 'The Bottom Line.' ... ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC ...

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People should be held accountable for this 'pay-for ... - Fox Business

Feb 27, 2025DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin discusses how DOGE exposed the wasteful spending on a vacant migrant shelter on 'The Bottom Line.' ... ©2025 FOX News Network, LLC ...

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