A North Carolina sheriff known for his outspoken opposition to cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) appeared unable to answer a basic question about the U.S. government when Republican State Representative Allen Chesser pressed him on fundamental civics.
"If I were to classify your position as the highest law-enforcement officer in the county, would that be a fair description?" Chesser asked.
"That's correct," Sheriff Garry McFadden said.
"And as such, you made reference earlier that you are a constitutional office, my colleague made reference that there are constitutional divisions among responsibilities between us and you," Rep. Chesser continued. "What branch of government do you operate under?”
“Mecklenburg County," McFadden replied, as awkward silence fell over the room.
"What branch of government do you operate under?" Rep. Chesser asked again.
“The Constitution of the United States."
“That is what establishes the branches of government," Chesser said. "I’m asking what branch you fall under.”
“Mecklenburg County. I'm a duly sworn Mecklenburg County sheriff. We answer to the people of Mecklenburg County."
“This is not where I was anticipating getting stuck. Um, are you aware of how many branches of government there are?”
"No."
“For the sake of debate, let’s say there are three branches of government: legislative, executive, judicial. Of those three, which do you believe you fall under?”
“I believe I fall under the last one … judicial.” McFadden guessed.
“You are incorrect, sir. You fall under the executive,” Chesser replied.
Sheriff Garry McFadden (Charlotte) was not able to name any of the 3 branches of gov
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 10, 2026
Including the one he works for pic.twitter.com/60YmM0jtO0
The representative went on to question the Sheriff about how he reconciles his opposition to ICE with his duty to serve the executive branch of government.
“We do not have a role in enforcement whatsoever," McFadden argued. "We do not have to follow the rules and the laws that are governed by our lawmakers in Raleigh.”
Later, in an interview with Fox News, Chesser admitted that “obviously, those weren’t the cache of questions that I was thinking we were going to get him on.”
“I had several statements that he had made to the media and to the local press and in different interviews that kind of conflicted with some of the testimony that he provided yesterday about following the law. We made it to [only] one of those statements because we got held up on what I thought was baseline, just kind of setting a baseline of how we were to establish that his role is to enforce the law,” he went on, before adding, “I was not expecting to have to get into a fifth-grade civics lesson with a duly elected sheriff.”
The exchange took place during a meeting of the North Carolina House Oversight Committee, which sought to discuss issues of public safety. The hearing convened in the wake of the horrific death of Iryna Zarutska last August, where a Ukrainian immigrant was brutally stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack on a light rail train, as she was returning from work. The killer has a lengthy criminal history, including violent offenses like armed robbery, along with a documented history of schizophrenia, though officials had failed in prior attempts to commit him involuntarily.