Among the claims U.S. President Donald Trump made in his State of the Union address on Feb. 24 was that DeCarlos Brown, a 34-year-old man who stabbed and killed Iryna Zarutska on a light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina in August 2025, came into the United States "through open borders".

Brown was actually born and raised in Charlotte. His mother said he suffers from schizophrenia and had stopped taking his medication at the time of the stabbing. Local police had interacted with Brown months before when he called 911 to say “man-made material” had been placed inside his body and was controlling him. Police did not act because they said Brown did express intent to harm himself or others.

After transit surveillance footage of the stabbing was made public, the Trump administration seized on the attack calling Democrats soft on crime, often showing posters of Zarutska side by side with Brown. The U.S. Justice Dept. has charged Brown with committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system punishable by life in prison or death.  The Justice Dept. press release does not mention Brown's mental health.

Zarutska, 23, was a refugee to the U.S. who had fled Ukraine in 2022 to escape the conflict with Russia with her family.

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