INTERVIEW: DHS’s Tricia McLaughlin talks Kristi Noem’s foreign travels, securing the border, and more: “Biden broke our legal immigration system”
THE LOWDOWN:
After four years of chaos at the southern border, we are finally seeing a fix to the broken border left by President Joe Biden and his administration. This charge has been led by President Trump and his Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, as well as their crack teams making the gears turn.
DHS Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin spoke with the Washington Reporter about the work going on at the department, including the recent trips overseas to learn how other nations keep themselves safe.
The trip also provided Noem and DHS officials the opportunity to learn from other countries with McLaughlin telling the Reporter the “key takeaway” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized was “how imperative a physical barrier is.”
McLaughlin also bashed the Biden administration’s border policies, saying the “political scheme” of a parole program was “akin to saying you ‘solved violent crime’ by legalizing murder.”
As the first year of the second Trump administration continues forward, we have seen dramatic decreases in illegal immigration and the flow of deadly drugs like fentanyl into America.
After four years of chaos at the southern border, we are finally seeing a fix to the broken border left by President Joe Biden and his administration. This charge has been led by President Donald Trump and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, as well as their crack teams making the gears turn.
As the changes unfurl and America becomes more secure, one of Noem’s heaviest hitters, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin spoke with the Washington Reporter about the secretary’s recent overseas trips and their work to keep America safe.
McLaughlin told the Reporter that Noem “held bilateral meetings with world leaders in Rome, Italy, Manama, Bahrain, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel and Rzeszow, Poland, to advance U.S. Homeland Security interests” and that President Donald Trump “specifically asked Secretary Noem to meet with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
“The Secretary and [the] Prime Minister had a candid conversation where the Secretary reiterated President Trump's desire to bring peace to the region and for Iran to never obtain or develop nuclear weapons,” McLaughlin said.
“And, of course, Secretary Noem offered, on behalf of President Trump and the people of the United States of America, condolences for the loss of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky in the horrific terrorist attack that occurred two weeks ago in Washington, D.C.,” she continued.
McLaughlin said Poland was chosen for a visit because the nation’s “history is a testament to the human spirit’s refusal to be chained.”
“From the partitions of the 18th and 19th centuries, history teaches us that freedom is fragile,” she said. “Poland’s past — its partitions, its uprisings, its triumphs — reminds us that liberty must be defended in every generation. President Trump’s vision, like Poland’s, is one of strength, irreverence, and unapologetic patriotism.”
McLaughlin said that, in “the same spirit as President Trump, Karol Nawrocki [Poland’s newly-elected president] understands the weight of Poland’s history and the importance of standing for its strong national identity and putting Poles first.”
“He stands for a Poland that is proud, independent, and unapologetic about its heritage,” she added. During Noem’s trip to Poland, she repeatedly endorsed Nawrocki in the hours before millions of Poles elected the Trump-aligned conservative.
The trip also provided Noem and DHS officials the opportunity to learn from other countries with McLaughlin telling the Reporter the “key takeaway” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized was “how imperative a physical barrier is.”
“Without a physical barrier, Israel would not exist,” McLaughlin said. “Israel has cutting-edge technology, think Iron Dome, that the U.S. can and will deploy in the U.S.” The Trump administration is in the process of unveiling a Golden Dome defense system mirroring Israel’s.
“A major reminder on why the Big Beautiful Bill is so essential to U.S. national security — we have the will but there has to be the funding to protect our country,” she added.
In just the few months that President Trump has been back in office, there has been a decisive shift on the issue of the southern border compared to the Biden administration. Where there was once a stream of illegal immigrants, McLaughlin noted a “historic” change.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we virtually have full operational control over our southern border —the most secure border in American history. Gotaways are down 99 percent and border crossings are down 93 percent. We have to keep this momentum and continue to send the message to cartels and criminal illegal aliens that they are out of business here in the U.S. If they try to come to the United States we will find them, arrest them, lock them up and they will never return.”
When it comes to help from Congress, McLaughlin said that, while U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has “seen an increase in agents over the years,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “has not.” She noted that the Big, Beautiful Bill “provides funding for hiring a minimum of 10,000 new ICE officers — which would increase the agency’s footprint by roughly 50 percent.”
“It funds detention capacity sufficient to maintain an average daily population of at least 100,000 illegal aliens, which would be double the current daily average,” McLaughlin said. “The legislation also provides for $14.4 billion to be used for transporting illegal immigrants out of the country. This is highly important as the illegal immigration crisis is a global one. We are no longer simply removing illegal immigrants to one country that we share a border with, but have to fly them to hundreds of nations around the world.”
McLaughlin said that the “three most important resources when it comes to deportations are the number of ICE officers, the number of detention beds, and the number of planes.”
“All three things are substantially increased in this legislation,” she added.
McLaughlin believes every American should know is that illegal immigration “is not a victimless crime” and that the “media absolutely refuses to cover the American victims.”
“I have worked with the press for a long time and it still stuns me and is absolutely stomach churning to the extent that the press does the bidding of criminal illegal aliens, including gang members, terrorists and cartel members, and completely ignores innocent American victims,” she said.
McLaughlin noted that DHS talks “a lot about how Biden broke the border” but “less about how Biden broke our legal immigration system,” and she did not hold back in her assessment of the previous administration’s border policies.
“This parole program was a complete political scheme by the Biden administration to avoid the optics of the border being overrun while still letting half a million people in,” McLaughlin said. “It was akin to saying you ‘solved violent crime’ by legalizing murder.”
“This was such a corruption of our immigration system full display and the media continues to pretend as if it was a legitimate program,” she added.
As for the legacy media, McLaughlin told the Reporter that she feels like it’s “Whack-a-Mole every day” while dealing with the laughably false narratives peddled by outlets like the New York Times.
“The brazenness on which these outlets lie and force feed the American people complete falsities,” she said, is breathtaking. “A few weeks back I dealt with a story in which an illegal alien out of Jamaica was facing deportation. He was given a Vogue-like photo shoot.”
“What the New York Times failed to report was that this guy had been in prison for kidnapping in New York for 15 years,” McLaughlin continued.
“These aren’t “mistakes” they are machinations by the media to do the bidding of violent criminals and manufacture them into sob stories,” she added.
Below is a transcript of our interview with DHS’s Tricia McLaughlin , lightly edited for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
Where have you been on this international trip? What reasons for these specific countries?
Tricia McLaughlin:
This was a whirlwind trip! Homeland security is national security and Secretary Kristi Noem held bilateral meetings with world leaders in Rome, Italy, Manama, Bahrain, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Israel and Rzeszow, Poland, to advance U.S. Homeland Security interests. President Trump specifically asked Secretary Noem to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. The Secretary and Prime Minister had a candid conversation where the Secretary reiterated President Trump's desire to bring peace to the region and for Iran to never obtain or develop nuclear weapons. And, of course, Secretary Noem offered, on behalf of President Trump and the people of the United States of America, condolences for the loss of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky in the horrific terrorist attack that occurred two weeks ago in Washington, DC.
Washington Reporter:
Why Poland?
Tricia McLaughlin:
Poland’s history is a testament to the human spirit’s refusal to be chained. From the partitions of the 18th and 19th centuries—History teaches us that freedom is fragile. Poland’s past—its partitions, its uprisings, its triumphs—reminds us that liberty must be defended in every generation. President Trump’s vision, like Poland’s, is one of strength, irreverence, and unapologetic patriotism. In the same spirit as President Trump, Karol Nawrocki understands the weight of Poland’s history and the importance of standing for its strong national identity and putting Poles first. He stands for a Poland that is proud, independent, and unapologetic about its heritage.
Washington Reporter:
In your latest travels, what have you learned from other countries about how they have kept their borders secure that you can implement in America?
Tricia McLaughlin:
This was a key takeaway that Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized—how imperative a physical barrier is. Without a physical barrier Israel would not exist. Israel has cutting edge technology, think Iron Dome, that the US can and will deploy in the US. A major reminder on why the Big Beautiful Bill is so essential to US national security—we have the will but there has to be the funding to protect our country.
Washington Reporter:
And what do they think about the decisive shift that we’re seeing on this issue from the second Trump administration?
Tricia McLaughlin:
Historic. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we virtually have full operational control over our southern border—the most secure border in American history. Gotaways are down 99 percent and border crossings are down 93 percent. We have to keep this momentum and continue to send the message to cartels and criminal illegal aliens that they are out of business here in the US. If they try to come to the United States we will find them, arrest them, lock them up and they will never return.
Washington Reporter:
The Trump administration has basically completely secured our border in well under six months; at this point, what is most helpful for Congress to send to the White House to keep up that progress?
Tricia McLaughlin:
While Border Patrol has seen an increase in agents over the years, ICE has not. This legislation provides funding for hiring a minimum of 10,000 new ICE officers — which would increase the agency’s footprint by roughly 50 percent. It funds detention capacity sufficient to maintain an average daily population of at least 100,000 illegal aliens, which would be double the current daily average. The legislation also provides for $14.4 billion to be used for transporting illegal immigrants out of the country. This is highly important as the illegal immigration crisis is a global one. We are no longer simply removing illegal immigrants to one country that we share a border with, but have to fly them to hundreds of nations around the world. The three most important resources when it comes to deportations are the number of ICE officers, the number of detention beds, and the number of planes. All three things are substantially increased in this legislation.
Washington Reporter:
What’s the main takeaway that you’ve learned in this role on illegal immigration that you wish every American could know?
Tricia McLaughlin:
Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. The media absolutely refuses to cover the American victims. I have worked with the press for a long time and it still stuns me and is absolutely stomach churning to the extent that the press does the bidding of criminal illegal aliens, including gang members, terrorists and cartel members, and completely ignores innocent American victims.
Washington Reporter:
To that end, what do you wish the media would understand about illegal immigration?
Tricia McLaughlin:
We talk a lot about how Biden broke the border—we talk less about how Biden broke our legal immigration system. Whether it be through letting 500,000 illegal immigrants in through programs like CHNV with little-to-no vetting. This parole program was a complete political scheme by the Biden administration to avoid the optics of the border being overrun while still letting half a million people in. It was akin to saying you “solved violent crime” by legalizing murder. This was such a corruption of our immigration system full display and the media continues to pretend as if it was a legitimate program.
Washington Reporter:
A not insignificant part of your job has been pushing back on laughably false narratives pushed by outlets like the New York Times; what do you make of their mistakes? How do these come about?
Tricia McLaughlin:
It is like whack-a-mole everyday. The brazenness on which these outlets lie and force feed the American people complete falsities. A few weeks back I dealt with a story in which an illegal alien out of Jamaica was facing deportation. He was given a Vogue-like photo shoot. What the New York Times failed to report was that this guy had been in prison for kidnapping in New York for 15 years. These aren’t “mistakes” they are machinations by the media to do the bidding of violent criminals and manufacture them into sob stories.
Washington Reporter:
Tricia, thanks so much for chatting.
