The Trump administration has hired a new official to help crack down on migrants—despite that she once dedicated herself to helping them.
Katie Zacharia, a frequent Fox News guest who once worked at an organization called Compassion for Migrant Children, is joining the Department of Homeland Security as deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, the department announced Tuesday.
On her Instagram and LinkedIn pages, Zacharia describes herself as a Fox News commentator. Fox, however, says she is not affiliated with the network and is just a guest on the network’s shows.
Zacharia’s hiring comes as DHS’s top spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, announced she is leaving the agency next week. The assistant secretary for the Office of Public Affairs, Lauren Bis, is being promoted to replace McLaughlin and Zacharia, 41, will work under Bis.
But long before her MAGA transformation, Zacharia lived in Beijing, China, from 2011 to 2013, with her husband, Tyler.
During her time in China, she worked as a corporate lawyer, but also as a fundraising manager at Compassion for Migrant Children, according to her LinkedIn.
The organization describes itself as “a collaborative effort to provide a framework within which organizations, individuals, and companies can express their care for children of migrant workers.”
At the time, Zacharia seemed genuinely committed to the cause, as she documented the harsh conditions migrants in China were facing in 2012.
In 2022, she called for China to “free the Uyghurs,” an oppressed Muslim group residing in Northwest China.
China has been accused of genocide against the Uyghurs, and the U.S., including under the Trump administration, has long condemned China’s treatment of the minority group.
Before her work in China, she worked as an intern in the George W. Bush White House. She graduated from Pepperdine Caruso Law in Malibu, California.
The Daily Beast reached out to Zacharia for comment.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, McLaughlin called Zacharia “a dynamic and effective voice in media,” who “will serve as Spokeswoman and Deputy Assistant Secretary.”
Her new role at DHS comes as the agency faces mounting criticism for its harsh immigration tactics—a stark contrast to her earlier work advocating for migrants.
During the second Trump administration, hundreds of immigrants have been deported to the notorious Salvadoran mega prison CECOT. El Salvador has been accused of denying “human rights groups access to its prisons.”
ICE detention centers have also been scrutinized for poor living conditions, notably for their mistreatment of pregnant women and children.
Despite her past advocacy in China, Zacharia now frequently uses phrases such as “illegal alien criminals” to describe immigrants in the U.S., as the rest of the Trump administration does.
These days, Zacharia is seen posting more often about her gym routine than she is about migrant advocacy. In one post, she even railed against eating vegetables.
In an op-ed published this week in the New York Post, Zacharia alleged her gym “caved to anti-MAGA bullies,“ when other gymgoers complained that she wore a Trump hat to work out. She wrote that she pushed back as her ”constitutional rights aren’t negotiable.”
She is a frequent face on Fox News and Newsmax, where she voices support for the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies.
