Tricia McLaughlin
Role at the time: DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
Statement summary
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the department's construction-site enforcement practices as lawful, rejecting allegations of racial profiling raised in Leo Garcia Venegas's lawsuit and dismissing the suit as unwarranted.
“DHS law enforcement uses 'reasonable suspicion' to make arrests. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. — NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity.”
Associated Press wire story (byline Tim Sullivan) carrying DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin's on-the-record statement dismissing the lawsuit as 'race-baiting opportunism,' published the day after the AP's initial filing story.
Why we used this label
McLaughlin's statement defends DHS's construction-site enforcement as lawful, denying that ethnicity plays any role in who is detained and asserting agents rely on 'reasonable suspicion' under the Fourth Amendment. This defends the department's targeted practices that are under scrutiny in the case rather than condemning them.