Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during an Assumption of Command Ceremony for Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday in January. Noem’s spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin is leaving her position next week. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Tricia McLaughlin, spokeswoman for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is leaving her job and is expected to tell her coworkers Tuesday, two DHS officials said.
Politico first reported the move, citing two unnamed officials familiar with her departure. They said she plans to leave the position next week. She didn’t respond to Politico’s request for comment, and DHS has not said who will replace her.
McLaughlin, of Cincinnati, Ohio, has been a vocal supporter of Noem and Homeland Security’s immigration operations, despite a public turn against some of the department’s moves.
The department is in the middle of a funding lapse as Congress debates reforms after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents during the administration’s Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis.
In the wake of Good’s death, McLaughlin supported Noem’s characterization of Good’s actions as “domestic terrorism.”
Since then, the White House has shifted from the combative approach to a more nuanced one, with border Czar Tom Homan taking over the Minneapolis operation. Last week, Homan announced the operation would “conclude.”
McLaughlin is a former communications aide to Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign in 2024 and for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. She planned to leave her job in December but stayed in the aftermath of the Minneapolis shootings, according to the DHS officials that Politico granted anonymity.
“Media is so much of the battle, so to speak, on the immigration issue,” McLaughlin said in an interview with the Cincinnati Enquirer last month. “So much of the debate is a [public relations] debate. It’s a PR war.”
