Top spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Tricia McLaughlin is leaving the Trump administration, a DHS official first told Politico.
McLaughlin, who is assistant secretary of Public Affairs at the department, is expected to step down from her position next week, per the report. Lauren Bis, a deputy of McLaughlin’s, will fill the role after her departure, Axios reported.
McLaughlin reportedly planned to leave the agency in December but postponed the exit following the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the report states, citing a source familiar with the matter.
McLaughlin has been one of the agency’s most vocal defenders as DHS works to enact President Donald Trump’s aim of deporting violent illegal immigrants, many of whom came to the U.S. during the Biden administration.
President Donald Trump praised the “wonderful” McLaughlin in December after she appeared on “The Sean Hannity Show.”
“Tricia really knows her ‘STUFF!” President Trump said.
Before her time at DHS, McLaughlin worked in the first Trump administration for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, as well as at the State Department on arms control issues.
McLaughlin is the most recent top DHS official to leave — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director Madison Sheahan announced in January that she would leave her position to run for a congressional seat in Ohio.
