“The question before this committee is painfully simple: When did protecting our American citizens stop being your first priority?”
Jessica Gorman, the mother of murdered 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, testified before Congress on Tuesday, where she slammed Democrats and questioned their commitment to the safety of Americans.
"On March 19, Sheridan went with friends to the lakefront in Chicago because they hoped they might see the northern lights," she said. "She never saw those lights. The man accused of murdering my daughter is Jose Medina, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who should not have even been in this country. And even after committing a crime and having an outstanding warrant, he was left on the streets of Chicago to murder my innocent American child.
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"But this story isn't about him. It's about my Sheridan and how failed border policies, sanctuary city laws and twisted leaders refused to cooperate with ICE. They sent her to her grave." She said, "The question before this committee is painfully simple: When did protecting our American citizens stop being your first priority? And even more important, why did protecting our American citizens stop being your first priority?"
She said her daughter was her and her husband’s "joy," who, in kindergarten, enthusiastically took part in her school’s "buddy bench" program in which kids could go if they were shy and other kids could invite them to play. "That was my daughter, and that is who she was until the day she was stolen from us. And I honestly can't make sense of it. I cannot make peace with it.
Filled with emotion, Gorman's mother then sorrowfully recounted the terror her daughter felt the night she was killed. "And in what world does the child who spent her life making sure no one was lonely die terrified and alone on a pier in Chicago? In what world does the girl who saw everyone become invisible to the people in power responsible for protecting her? This cannot be explained away, and it cannot be buried beneath the list of unrelated issues that you all paraded before us. Thanks for telling me, without telling me, that you know you're here, but you don't want to be... Thanks for telling me you don't care."
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The hearing remained emotional, with New York Rep. Mike Lawler entering a shouting match with Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin over the outrage Raskin expressed following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
"So while some colleagues may not want to hear the truth, the same outrage you feel about Renee Good and Alex Pretti, you should feel about Sheridan Gorman and Laken Riley and every angel family in this country," Lawler said.
Lawler was cut off by Raskin, who shouted, "I do feel that outrage."
"You do not," Lawler responded. "Because if you did, you would not support sanctuary cities."
Raskin repeatedly replied that Lawler was "a disgrace" and that he did not understand the rules of the committee.
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According to the Department of Homeland Security, Medina, a Venezuelan national, illegally crossed the southern border in May 2023 during the Biden administration and was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol before being released into the United States pending immigration proceedings. Later that year, he was arrested by Chicago police on retail theft charges after allegedly shoplifting from a Macy's store.
Court records show he failed to appear on those charges, resulting in an outstanding arrest warrant. Despite his immigration status and active warrant, prosecutors said he remained free in Chicago, where authorities allege he hid behind a lighthouse on a Rogers Park pier wearing a ski mask and dressed entirely in black before opening fire on Sheridan Gorman and her three friends as they attempted to flee.
Gorman was struck in the back after warning her friends to run, a final act her family believes saved their lives. Following his arrest, investigators said surveillance footage led police to Medina's apartment just blocks from the scene, where officers allegedly recovered the clothing worn during the shooting and a .40-caliber handgun matching shell casings found at the crime scene.
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