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Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. warned he would have a problem if the White House decided to focus its attention on his state as scrutiny grows on Democratic policies and their connection to crime.
Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, was killed in Charlotte, North Carolina, last month while taking public transit. The suspect in the crime, Decarlos Brown Jr., had previously been arrested 14 times before being arrested and charged with murder.
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As the story, propelled by a harrowing video of the alleged interaction between Brown and Zarutska, has spread nationally, so too has criticism of Democratic crime policies in blue cities like Charlotte.
Zarutska was fatally stabbed in the throat three times with a folding knife during what police describe as a random attack on Aug. 22, 2025. (NewsNation via Charlotte Area Transit System | GoFundMe)
President Donald Trump charged that “blood is on the hands of the Democrats who refuse to put bad people in jail,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who directed Justice Department prosecutors to federally prosecute Brown, contended that Zarutska’s “horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people.”
Their sentiment comes as the Trump administration has pushed for federal intervention in Democratic-led cities. The administration has already sent troops into Washington, D.C., and is planning to send the Guard to Memphis and possibly Baltimore next.
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President Donald Trump during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on Aug. 26, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Tillis told Fox News Digital that there were “a lot of cities that we should be going to before Charlotte.”
“And I, for one, don’t think that we should be the nation’s police force, because, you know what happens? We’re going to mask the failure of Democrat leaders that are making their cities less safe,” Tillis said. “But we also have to be realistic and see that there are some cities and red states that are also in the top 20 list.”
“All I’m saying is we’ve got an issue, and I’m down there working before it became a national thing, work that we need to do down there to fix basically the free ride of the subway there,” he continued. “But it doesn’t rise to a level of national intervention. I think that’d be an overreach that I’m against, generally.”
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Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska came to the U.S. to escape war but was stabbed to death in Charlotte. (Evgeniya Rush/GoFundMe)
Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., had a different view of the situation.
He argued that it was “broken policies” encouraged by former Gov. Roy Cooper, who is running for Tillis’ seat, and current Gov. Josh Stein, D-N.C., that led to “this reimagining criminal justice nonsense.”
“What I want to see is local government to operate like it should,” Budd said. “That’s city government without these leftist, cashless bail crimes on the streets turning a blind eye to homelessness and drugs. If they will stop doing that, those crazy policies, then sure there’s no need to send in the National Guard.”
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“I would say being negligent, like those local governments have been in that case, invites greater rule,” he continued. “And that’s the feds, and they’re doing it in Chicago, they’re doing it in Washington, D.C. That’s because it’s been negligent locally. So policy matters, and policy matters at home, too.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Stein’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.
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