Anti-ICE Sheriff Doesn’t Know How Many Branches of Government There Are
A celebrity sheriff beclowned himself in front of North Carolina legislators, and now the country.
A North Carolina celebrity sheriff who opposes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also lacks a basic grasp on the three branches of government – and which one he serves under.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden boasts on his bio of having “one of the highest solve rates in police department history, which led to him starring in his own television series, ‘I Am Homicide.'”
But his most entertaining, if not disturbing, time in front of the camera may have come on Monday when he struggled to explain the basic functions of the U.S. government.
Sheriff McFadden has made a name for himself by opposing ICE. Soon after taking over as the county’s top cop in 2018, McFadden announced he would no longer cooperate with the federal agency under the 287(g) program. This allows local law enforcement to receive funding to help with immigration enforcement.
Civics pop quiz: fail. When asked what branch of government he’s part of, Garry McFadden had no idea, then settled on “judicial.” #ncpol #ncga pic.twitter.com/pkAOrVMQz0
— Nick Craig (@nicholasmcraig) February 9, 2026
“I don’t think you can make someplace safer when you are in fear … of deportation,” he told CNN last October. He has since said he will work with ICE because a new state law requires it. His general antipathy toward the agency culminated in a hearing Monday that exposed his ignorance.
“What branch of government do you operate under,” Republican Rep. Alan Chesser asked the sheriff.
“Mecklenburg County,” the sheriff responded.
“What branch of government do you operate under, sheriff,” Chesser, a former police officer himself, asked again.
After McFadden answered that he served under the “Constitution of the United States,” Chesser tried to throw him a lifeline.
“For the sake of debate, let’s say there are three branches of government: legislative, executive, judicial,” Chesser asked, after McFadden admitted to not knowing how many branches of government there are. “Of those three, which do you fall under?”
“I believe I fall under the last one … judicial,” the sheriff said.
“You are incorrect, sir. You fall under the executive,” the Republican politician responded. (Part of the confusion may come from that the sheriff’s office oversees court security).
Chesser later told Fox News that “I was not expecting to have to get into a fifth-grade civics lesson with a duly elected sheriff.”
Lawmakers have since followed up with a demand for more information from McFadden on how he cooperates with ICE, according to NBC News.
🚨🚨The @NCHouseGovOps is bringing back Mecklenberg County sheriff Gary McFadden to explain his not following state and federal law and cooperating with ICE.
He’d better come up with better answers than the ones he had on Monday. #ncpol pic.twitter.com/ztSf82bvkd
— Sloan Rachmuth (@SloanRachmuth) February 11, 2026
The Mecklenburg County GOP also called for his resignation, saying the embarrassing exchange, “demonstrates the current sheriff’s total lack of accountability, competence and respect for the citizens of Mecklenburg County.”
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
This sheriff doesn’t have to know anything, he only needs to be black and democrat.
Isn’t Diversity grand!
No.
Chesser later told Fox News that “I was not expecting to have to get into a fifth-grade civics lesson with a duly elected sheriff.”
DEI, not DES.
DEI/Affirmative Action…
It’s not just for breakfast anymore… 🙁
He’s got 7 service rings on the uniform (just above the sleeve’s cuff), meaning 35 years on the force. Plus four stars on the shoulders. “To serve [myself donuts] and to protect [my pension].”
More like to serve my masters (county commissioners) and serve (the state).
He’s sure a snappy dresser. That uniform’s got more stars and bars than a Veterans Day Parade.
That uniform’s got more stars and bars than a Veterans Day Parade.
____________________________________________________________
all he needs is a tam o shanter, a baton and a whistle and he could be the drum major in the sheriff’s marching band–of course he may not be able to count
why should kanteji doesnt know what.a female is
as bad or worse was fox had 2 different blk male leo on tuesday night and neither one could present themselves properly misspeaking all over the place it was horrible cringy moments
is it dei ? or just people not knowing their stuff?
who knows but with dei affirmaction it leaves society in peril
See “The Bell Curve” for additional information.
This doesn’t surprise me. Just listen to elected Democrats in Congress, Harris and Walz, and their Antifa minions attacking ICE. Public education has failed several generations at this point. I’m Gen X and I think it’s the last generation that made it through before all levels of education was taken over by radicals that indoctrinate our kids.
You have leftist women arguing that a trans woman is a woman, which is the quintessential Orwellian equivalent to Big Brother demanding we accept that 2+2=5. They could literally be looking at a naked man and call him a woman solely because he says he is.
Common sense, logic, reality, history, science and biology are all subservient to the Party’s agenda. Namely, the Democrats quest for totalitarian control over America.
The idiots get highlighted to convince you they’re the majority. Most of the younger generation is just fine.
“I’m Gen X and I think it’s the last generation that made it through before all levels of education was taken over by radicals that indoctrinate our kids.”
The apostasy started with “New Math” in the mid-60s. Even boomers were tainted if they were unlucky enough to attend a public school in an affluent area,
Yeah, started in jurisdictions more susceptible to adopting whatever lefty fads/trends were bubbling up. Those of us in Gen X from areas less receptive to change for the the sake of change and/or based on feels or fashionable lefty theories were largely spared the goofy leftist educational experimentation.
Don’t forget “whole language” replacing “phonics”. Why Jonny can’t read.
The “radicals that indoctrinate our kids” still get a lot of help from parents who foolishly donate their children for indoctrination.
“…total lack of accountability, competence and respect for the citizens…”
Of course. In every blue state, blue county, and blue city that is a resume enhancement for any democrat, and required for re-election.
He is better known in NC as a sheriff who has been sued at least twice (losing both times) over dragging his feet over gun permit applications in a state that is both a shall-issue and an open carry state.
In Charlotte, McFadden is known as the, “. . . It isn’t my fault . . .” Sheriff.
Right. Makes one wonder what DEI doctors don’t know.
They don’t know anything, but their pronouns are perfect.
Communists always put incompetent people into positions of authority because loyalty to the cause is what matters first and foremost. It’s why things fall apart.
As an aside, I love how these small-town sheriffs have four stars on their uniforms, like they think they’re Marshall or Bradley.
All that’s missing is the gold fringed shoulder thingies and two fouregierres or however you spell those rope things.
Gee … who knew communist traitors are also retards?
I am the very last man on earth to defend DEI hires, but I do not approve of this public shaming of an uneducated black man who simply accepted a cushy position offered to him by evil white liberals. Go after his masters. Those who thrill seeing these low-IQ people being shamed, rather than the people who enabled them, need to do some soul searching.
You have a point.
No he does t.
BLacks just hire blacks and they all know they have no idea of what they are doing
But there is good money in it and they can scam more
But they know to hate whiteness
Yes he does. Whites slavishly participate in DEI hiring.
Nope. He’s not too proud to take the checks.
He was elected. Plenty of blame to go around.
I see your point. And it would be easier to buy it if he wasn’t self-aggrandizing. But he is, so it’s Icarus time for him.
In civilized counties, sheriffs wear business suits instead of beclowning themselves pretending to be four-star generals.
Sheriff Judd appears in uniform and I’ll take him as Sheriff any day.
Gotta say I don’t have an issue with an elected Sheriff in a uniform but the 4 star thing is absurd. At best the insignia should be that of a Col. with a relative decline in the rank insignia of their subordinates.
Not sure why he stopped at 4 stars. Should have gone with 7 to top George Washington.
McFadden certainly could have given a better answer than ‘judicial’ but the question seems to be equally ignorant. As with most Sheriffs, those in North Carolina are independently elected officials at the county level who don’t really belong to a constitutional branch, especially since the question seems to be a gotcha to claim he belongs to the *Federal* Executive branch, which he most emphatically does not.
This is not a good argument. Governors and state senators are likewise elected, but they belong to specific branches. All US states have three branches (the Arizona constitution calls them “departments”) — even Louisiana, which (due to its French origins) had several one-of-a-kind governmental divergences (such as no presumption of innocence) for a long time, has always had them.
Here in Texas, if a Sheriff’s office becomes vacant for health or legal reasons, the Governor appoints a new sheriff until the next election. I would guess that puts them smack dab in the Executive Branch of the State Government.
If the governor appoints a judge to fill a vacancy, that does not make the appointee a member of the executive branch. That makes the appointee a member of the judicial branch. In some states a governor can fill a vacancy in the legislative branch. That does not make the appointee a member of the executive branch. He/she then becomes a legislator, or a member of the legislative branch of government.
Huh? Let’s keep it simple.
1. Legislative branch debates/passes laws.
2. Judicial branch determines whether a law is valid within our Constitutional framework and imposes penalties for deviations of the laws passed by the legislature within the guidelines set by the legislature.
A Sheriff holds a constitutional office but doesn’t perform those things above so he falls in the Executive branch….which is charged with execution of the laws and enforcement of the laws.
Are you under the belief that an independent election means that you don’t have to answer to anyone?
If so, you may need a bigger civics lesson than this guy.
All law enforcement BELONGS to the executive branch with the exception of a few DEPENDENT security details with limited scope. It’s funny because he even tried to invoke the US Constitution which specifically grants the powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branch and is a FEDERAL document.
I see your point. For most people, the assumption would be that if someone fell under the executive branch, they could be under the control of and accountable to the executive whether it’s the governor or county commission. That’s not the case in most states when it comes to Sheriffs. In New Mexico, Sheriff’s work for the courts, but they are not employees of the judicial branch. They also maintain the peace and enforce state laws.
The only Feds who ~aren’t~ elected are members of SCOTUS. All executives and legislators are directly voted in by popular vote. And they elect—OK: consent—to SCOTUS appointments. And also OK: the president is elected by the electors who are emplaced by popular vote.
In the end, it’s turtles all the way down.
😉
I assume he means that if you put people in a place in fear of deportation then you’re not making it safer for those people. If so, then it must be equally true that “you can’t make someplace safer when you are in fear of arrest”; you claim to have “one of the highest solve rates in police department history”, but what do you do after you’ve solved the crimes, if you don’t arrest the perpetrators because that would make the place unsafe for them?
Joe Biden’s older than all that. At his debate with Sarah Palin it was clear that she’d read the constitution but didn’t have much clue about how things actually worked in Washington, while Biden knew all about that but had never actually read the constitution as such. Maybe he skimmed it once, or read the Cliff notes.
Palin said that as VP she would spend much of her time in her role as president of the Senate. Biden had never heard of such nonsense, and instructed her, as one does a dim child, that the vice presidency is an Article 2 office, not Article 1, and the VP has no role in the senate except when needed to break the occasional tie. I’m not sure if he even mentioned that one trivial exception.
He certainly sounded like he knew what he was talking about, while she sounded more hesitant and open to correction, which just meant that she was being honest and he was bullshitting. Because anyone who’d read the constitution knew immediately that she was 100% correct, while his “knowledge” was derived not from the constitution but from having observed for several decades how VPs actually functioned, and subconsciously deriving from that an idea of what their job description might be. Which is like watching an office full of public servants and concluding that their job description must include “drink lots of coffee” and must not include anything like “serve the public”.
Just remember the job description says you have to be elected, it doesn’t say you have to be intelligent, effective, or particularly good at the job.
Leave a Comment