Lawmaker shocked after Dem sheriff can’t answer basic ‘fifth grade’ public question
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North Carolina Republican State Representative Allen Chesser said he was surprised when a Democratic official who has long opposed cooperation with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could not answer a basic question about how the government works.
A North Carolina House Oversight Committee hearing prompted by the recent killing of a young Ukrainian woman, Iryna Zarutska, in Charlotte, took an unexpected turn when Chesser asked Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, “What branch of government do you work under?”
McFadden, the top law enforcement officer in the county where Zarutska was killed, simply replied, “Mecklenburg County,” prompting Chesser to repeat, “What branch of government do you work under, sheriff?”
The sheriff replied, “The constitution of the United States,” Chesser replied, “That’s what establishes the branches of government; I’m asking what branch you fall under.”
After McFadden answered, “Mecklenburg County” again, Chesser remarked, “That’s not where I expected to be stuck. Um, do you know how many branches of government there are?” The sheriff quickly shot back, “No.”
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Left: The skyline of the City of Charlotte, North Carolina, located in Mecklenburg County. Right: Sheriff Garry McFadden. (Andrea Evangelo-Giamou / EyeEm via Getty Images; Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)
After a long silence, Chesser continued, “For the sake of debate, let’s say there are three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. Of those three, where do you fall under?”
The sheriff replied, “I believe I fall under the latter … jurisdiction.”
“You’re wrong, sir. You’re coming in under an officer,” said Chesser.
After this, Chesser continued to press McFadden about how he reconciled his responsibilities as an executive branch officer to law enforcement with his opposition to cooperating with ICE. Chesser asked McFadden how he reconciles his responsibility with a previous statement in which the chief justice said, “We have no role in law enforcement, we don’t have to follow the rules and regulations that our lawmakers in Raleigh administer.”
The sheriff said Chesser was taking his comments out of context, saying they were about immigration enforcement.
While he declined to provide more context in the statement, McFadden confirmed that his office is now complying with state law that requires cooperation with ICE, saying, “We follow the law, when the law is produced, we follow the law.”
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Iryna Zarutska cowers in fear as a man climbs her during an attack on a Charlotte, NC light rail. (NewsNation via Charlotte Area Transit System)
In an interview with Fox News Digital the day after the hearing, Chesser, an Army veteran and former police officer, said, “Obviously that wasn’t the barrage of questions I thought we were going to answer.”
“I have had many statements made by him in the media and in the local media and in various interviews that contradict the testimony he gave yesterday about following the law. We have reached [only] one of those statements because we stuck to what I thought was the foundation, just laying the groundwork for how we’re going to make sure his role is law enforcement,” he explained, adding, “I didn’t expect to walk into a fifth-grade public education with an officially elected sheriff.”
He said McFadden “decided to make himself a center for refusing to enforce immigration law here in North Carolina, adding, “It’s not so much about refusing to enforce immigration law, but refusing to enforce the state law that says they have to cooperate with ICE detainers and ICE when people are detained in its facilities.”
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Iryna Zarutska from Ukraine came to the US to escape the war but was stabbed to death in Charlotte. (Evgeniya Rush/GoFundMe)
“Last summer, we had the misfortune of losing a young Ukrainian who had taken refuge in our country and in our region,” Chesser continued. “I think all North Carolinians, and all people who find themselves in North Carolina, should be able to count on one thing when it comes to public safety, and that whether or not you’re safe and whether or not the law is going to be followed doesn’t depend on what state you’re in.”
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“North Carolina is a safe state for all people who choose to come here, and that’s the point of the Oversight Committee. [hearing] what we had, we make sure that the law is applied equally and is applied equally across all lines of thought in our state,” he said.
The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
