Mom blasts Dems over sanctuary city policies: Your failures killed my daughter

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, July 01, 2026

A grieving mother whose daughter was murdered by an illegal immigrant challenged lawmakers Tuesday to explain "why my child matters less than an illegal immigrant" during a contentious House hearing on sanctuary city policies.

Jessica Gorman testified before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement, where she recounted the March 19 murder of her daughter, Sheridan, and blamed failed border policies and sanctuary city laws for allowing the suspect to remain in the country.

"My daughter paid for those failures — your failures — with her life," Gorman told lawmakers. "Why does my child matter less than an illegal immigrant?"

Gorman said the man accused of killing her daughter, Jose Medina, entered the U.S. illegally from Venezuela and should have been deported. 

"Even after committing a crime and having an outstanding warrant, he was left on the streets of Chicago to murder my innocent American child," she said. “Jose Medina ... should not have even been in this country.” 

"When did protecting our American citizens stop being your first priority?" she asked. "I want an explanation. I need one, and I deserve one," she added before calling leaders who refuse to cooperate with ICE "twisted" and accusing them of sending Sheridan "to her grave.” 

Remembering Sheridan as someone who "spent her life making sure no one was lonely," Gorman described a "buddy bench" at her daughter's elementary school where children without friends could find companionship at recess.

"I think Congress needs one," she said, inviting lawmakers and sanctuary city leaders to sit beside her and other angel families and explain their actions. 

"Explain why sanctuary policies matter more than my Sheridan's life," Gorman demanded. "Explain why cooperation with ICE was too much to ask for, but asking American parents to bury their children is somehow acceptable."

Gorman also excoriated Democrat lawmakers, such as Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., for complaining about having to attend yet another hearing on the topic of sanctuary cities: “Thanks for telling me you don’t care.”

"My Sheridan spent her whole life choosing others," she said. "Today, I'm asking this committee, our Congress and our country to choose her. She was worth protecting. She was worth saving."

Gorman then thanked lawmakers and community leaders who have walked alongside her and other angel families.

“No mother should have to stand where I am standing, begging elected leaders to value my child’s life after it’s already too late. My daughter paid for those failures, your failures, with her life. No family should ever have to bury a child because public officials fail to put American lives first. I’m just asking you to choose us. We chose you.” 

She added that she often ”wakes up in the middle of the night and wonders if her daughter cried out for her in her final moments after she “made it 40 feet, running for her life” before she was killed. 

Addressing the murder of Gorman's daughter, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said Medina illegally entered the U.S. in May 2023. At the time, he said, “Border Patrol caught him. They apprehended him, but then because of the Biden administration’s ludicrous open border policies, he was released into our country.”

“A month later, he was arrested for shoplifting in Chicago. Under existing law and the law at the time, he should have been deported right then and there,” he added. 

Throughout Lawler’s remarks, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee repeatedly interrupted, complaining that he was giving a “speech” rather than an introduction at the hearing.

Lawler pushed back, saying Sheridan’s death was a consequence of Chicago’s “disastrous sanctuary city policies,” where authorities refuse to cooperate with federal law enforcement. 

“I don’t understand why it’s only the Republican side that cares about our American children,” Jessica Gorman said, accusing Democrats of showing fake sympathy while adding the word “but” in their statements: “There’s no but when your child is in a coffin.”

According to the federal complaint against Medina, he's facing charges of murder, attempted murder, three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon.