Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska fled Russian bombs in 2022, only to be stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train by a career criminal who'd been arrested 14 times.
North Carolina lawmakers demanded answers from the county sheriff who built his career on protecting illegal immigrants instead of law-abiding citizens – and nobody expected what happened next.
Rep. Allen Chesser asked Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden one simple question about government structure that fifth-graders across America answer correctly every day, and the sheriff's response left the hearing room in stunned silence.
North Carolina House Hearing Exposes Sheriff's Basic Civics Failure
Chesser asked McFadden, "What branch of government do you operate under?"
The sheriff answered "Mecklenburg County."
Chesser repeated the question.
McFadden tried again: "The Constitution of the United States."
Chesser clarified that the Constitution establishes the branches, not answers which branch he operates under.
McFadden answered "Mecklenburg County" again.
Then came the moment that defined the entire hearing.
Chesser asked, "Are you aware of how many branches of government there are?"
McFadden's answer: "No."
After a long pause, Chesser laid out the three branches – legislative, executive, judicial – and asked McFadden which one he falls under.
The sheriff guessed judicial.
Wrong.
"You are incorrect, sir. You fall under the executive," Chesser told him.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff's ICE Cooperation Defiance Created Crisis
This is the same sheriff who's spent six years telling federal immigration authorities they don't get to tell him what laws to enforce.
He ran for office in 2018 promising to end cooperation with ICE and made good on that promise his first day by terminating the 287(g) program that helped deport criminal aliens.
He supervised the jail system where Decarlos Brown – a homeless man with 14 prior arrests, multiple violent convictions, and documented schizophrenia – cycled through repeatedly before stabbing Zarutska to death on August 22, 2025.
Brown spent five years in state prison for armed robbery.
He was arrested in January 2025 for misusing 911, claiming people were trying to control him.
He was released on a written promise to appear in court.
Five days before killing Zarutska, Brown showed up at his mother's house after being released from the hospital displaying erratic behavior consistent with his schizophrenia diagnosis.
Trump's Justice Department charged Brown federally with violence against a mass transportation system resulting in death – carrying life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Attorney General Pam Bondi called Zarutska's murder "a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people."
North Carolina passed "Iryna's Law" in October 2025, ending most forms of cash-free bail and requiring mental health evaluations for unstable defendants – exactly the protections McFadden's philosophy fought against for years.
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska's Murder Exposed Democrat Policy Failure
McFadden won election in 2018 as part of a wave of five Black Democratic sheriffs who promised immigrant advocacy groups they'd stop cooperating with ICE.
He immediately terminated the 287(g) agreement and refused to honor ICE detainers – requests to hold criminal aliens beyond their release date so federal agents could pick them up.
ICE launched billboards in Charlotte in 2020 featuring criminal aliens McFadden had released, warning residents about the dangers of non-cooperation policies.
The Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature forced his hand in November 2024 by passing House Bill 10, which overrode Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto and required all sheriffs to communicate with ICE and honor detainer requests.
During the hearing, Chesser confronted McFadden about a previous statement where the sheriff said, "We do not have a role in enforcement whatsoever, we do not have to follow the rules and the laws that are governed by our lawmakers in Raleigh."
McFadden claimed his quote was taken out of context and only referred to immigration enforcement.
But state law now requires him to enforce immigration law by cooperating with ICE.
Why This Matters Beyond Charlotte
Chesser told Fox News Digital he never expected to get stuck on what he called "a fifth-grade civics lesson with a duly elected sheriff."
The Army veteran and former police officer said McFadden "decided to make himself kind of a centerpiece in the refusal to enforce immigration law here in North Carolina."
"It's not so much the refusal to enforce immigration law, but it's the refusal to enforce state law that says he must cooperate with ICE and ICE detainers when people are in custody in his facilities," Chesser said.
Zarutska survived Russian artillery bombardment of her Kyiv neighborhood, lived in a bomb shelter for months, and made it to America seeking safety.
She learned English, enrolled in community college, worked at a pizzeria, and dreamed of becoming a veterinary assistant.
She walked neighbors' pets through her Charlotte neighborhood "always with her radiant smile," her obituary said.
Then a career criminal with 14 arrests – cycling through a jail system overseen by a sheriff who can't identify which branch of government he works for – stabbed her three times from behind on a light rail train.
"North Carolina is a safe state for all the people who choose to come here," Chesser said, "and that is the point of the Oversight Committee hearing we were having – making sure that the law is equally applied across all imaginary lines in our state."
21 Jail Deaths Under McFadden's Watch Spark Additional Questions
McFadden is running for a third term as sheriff in 2026 while facing multiple lawsuits over jail deaths, accusations of fostering a hostile workplace, and an SBI investigation prompted by a petition seeking his removal from office.
Twenty-one inmates have died in Mecklenburg County Jail since he took office in 2018.
When questioned about the deaths during the hearing, McFadden said people come to jail with untreated health conditions.
"People die every day across America," he said.
Zarutska's family buried her in North Carolina.
Her father couldn't attend the funeral because Ukrainian martial law prevented men aged 18-60 from leaving the country during Russia's invasion.
Sources:
- Peter Pinedo, "GOP lawmaker shocked after anti-ICE sheriff was stumped by 'fifth-grade civics' question," Fox News, February 11, 2026.
- "Killing of Iryna Zarutska," Wikipedia, February 5, 2026.
- "Justice Department Charges Light Rail Attacker with Federal Crime," Department of Justice, September 9, 2025.
- Galen Bacharier, "NC Republican legislators grill Mecklenburg sheriff over jail operation and ICE cooperation," NC Newsline, February 9, 2026.
- "Charlotte's Sheriff Garry McFadden has a history of taking on ICE in North Carolina," CNN, November 22, 2025.
