DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin to leave Trump administration

One of the Trump administration’s most vocal defenders of its aggressive immigration crackdown is leaving as public opinion sours against the hardline approach, according to two DHS officials familiar with the move.

Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s spokesperson, is expected to inform colleagues Tuesday about her plans, according to the officials. She’s leaving DHS next week.

McLaughlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

McLaughlin publicly supported the Trump administration’s controversial tactics at some of the most tense moments amid its immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and Minneapolis, frequently sparring with social media detractors.

McLaughlin’s departure will leave a hole at the department at a crucial time amid a funding lapse for the agency as Republicans and Democrats negotiate potential reforms to ICE and Customs and Border Protection. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment about who will take over communications.

A former top communications aide to Vivek Ramaswamy’s 2024 presidential campaign and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, McLaughlin started planning to leave in December but delayed her departure amid the aftermath of the Renee Good and Alex Pretti shootings, according to the people briefed on her exit. (They were granted anonymity to speak about internal personnel matters.) In the instance of Good, McLaughlin was quick to characterize her actions as an example of “domestic terrorism.”

Some in the Trump administration have privately criticized Noem’s leadership of the department, which has drawn repeated bad headlines in part due to the department jumping to conclusions in the instances of the two fatal shootings. Trump put border czar Tom Homan in charge in Minneapolis in what some in the White House saw as a rebuttal to Noem’s more aggressive approach.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll last week found a majority of Americans — 58 percent — saying the administration's immigration crackdown has gone too far.

After Noem, McLaughlin was the biggest booster of the approach. At the peak of her tenure, McLaughlin, a former ABC News contributor, logged as many as five media appearances a day. Throughout her time in her job, she frequently did interviews on Fox News, as well as CNN, CBS News, NPR and Newsmax. She also appeared on many podcasts including those hosted by the late Charlie Kirk, Chris Cuomo and Howard Kurtz.

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

That PR war has left scars.

Her exit comes amid unprecedented turbulence at DHS. Although long planned, she's leaving just days after a brutal Wall Street Journal article cataloging "constant chaos" within the agency and critiquing Noem's self-importance including the alleged firing of a U.S. Coast Guard pilot for misplacing the secretary's blanket.

It’s unclear what she will do next but asked by the paper if she would ever run for office if she returned to Cincinnati, McLaughlin, who’s married to GOP consultant Ben Yoho, said she “wouldn’t rule anything out.”

While immigration was a major focus for McLaughlin, given the sprawling DHS remit, she also worked on issues including how TSA was affected by the government shutdown last year, the Coast Guard’s role in the Caribbean drug boat strikes and FEMA’s response to major storms.

Her stint at DHS followed her earlier service in the first Trump administration where she worked for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and at the State Department on arms control issues.

McLaughlin became an avatar of the Trump administration’s communications campaign defending its immigration enforcement effort. In doing so, she assumed a level of prominence — and withering criticism — garnered not even by some Trump Cabinet officials.

Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called her a “pathological liar.” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) accused her of “gaslighting the American people.”

But McLaughlin publicly maintained the backing of the only person who mattered through the end of her time atop all of DHS’ public affairs.

President Donald Trump praised the “wonderful TRICIA MCLAUGHLIN” after a December appearance on Fox. He added, “Tricia really knows her ‘STUFF!’”

Among her Instagram posts on her personal page on Jan. 1, she appeared to vaguely respond to criticisms.

“Your boos mean nothing,” read the meme from the show “Rick and Morty” that she shared. “I’ve seen what makes you cheer.”