An 18-Year-Old Girl Is Dead Because Democrats Refuse to Let Police Do Their Jobs

Sheridan Gorman should be finishing her sophomore year at Loyola University right now. Instead, her parents stood at a congressional debate this week fighting back tears, begging politicians to do something that should’ve been done years ago. Their 18-year-old daughter was shot and killed in March while walking near campus in Chicago. The man charged with her murder is Jose Medina, a Venezuelan national who entered this country illegally in May 2023 and promptly got released by federal authorities.

Here’s the part that’ll make your blood boil. He was arrested for shoplifting the very next month. Chicago cops had him. And then they let him go because Illinois is a sanctuary state. No call to ICE. No coordination with federal immigration enforcement. Just a catch and release program that ended with a bullet in an innocent girl’s chest.

You know what gets me about this? We’re not talking about some complex policy debate with fifty layers of nuance. A five-second phone call would’ve saved Sheridan’s life. That’s what her parents said during the debate between Democrat Cait Conley and Republican incumbent Mike Lawler. Five seconds. But sanctuary policies in places like Chicago and New York explicitly forbid that call from happening.

Lawler represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, and he’s in a dogfight for his political life right now. His race could determine which party controls the House for the rest of Trump’s term. He told reporters this week that he wants ICE reformed with body cameras and uniforms, more accountability and transparency in how they operate. Fair enough. But he’s adamant that states need to cooperate when it comes to deporting criminal illegal aliens. Not the guy working construction. Not the mom cleaning hotel rooms. The criminals.

The distinction matters because Democrats love to muddy these waters. They’ll act like any enforcement action is some kind of fascist roundup when what we’re really talking about is preventing violent offenders from roaming free in American cities. Medina had already been deported once before. Think about that timeline. He came here illegally, got caught and removed, came back again, got released by the Biden administration, committed a crime in Chicago, got released again, and then allegedly murdered a college student.

That’s not a failure. That’s a system working exactly as designed by people who care more about political posturing than protecting citizens.

Illinois and Chicago pride themselves on being sanctuary jurisdictions. They wear it like a badge of honor. Meanwhile parents like Tom and Jessica Gorman have to bury their daughter and then show up at political debates pleading for basic common sense. The cruelty of that reality should shame every elected official who’s voted for these policies.

Lawler’s warning about what happens if Democrats take control isn’t hyperbole. We already saw the Biden era approach to immigration. Catch and release became standard operating procedure. ICE and Border Patrol saw their resources strangled. Enforcement became a dirty word. And we got predictable results with millions of illegal crossings and horror stories like Sheridan’s multiplying across the country.

The Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration has turned Gorman’s death into a rallying point. Some people will call that exploitation. I call it facing reality. Her murder wasn’t some random act of violence that could’ve happened to anyone. It was entirely preventable. It happened because specific politicians made specific choices that prioritized protecting illegal immigrants over cooperating with federal law enforcement.

Sheridan’s parents brought her younger sister Madelon to the Republican midterm convention in Dallas. They hugged Lawler on stage while talking about the daughter they lost. You think they’re doing that because they enjoy being in the spotlight? They’re doing it because they don’t want another family to go through what they’re experiencing. That’s not political theater. That’s grief channeled into purpose.

The question Gorman’s parents asked both candidates was simple. Do you support ending New York’s law that prevents local police from working with ICE? It’s a yes or no question. And the answer tells you everything you need to know about whether a politician values American lives or progressive credentials.

We can debate immigration reform all day long. We can talk about pathways and documentation and border security. But when you’ve got someone who’s already been deported, already committed another crime on American soil, and local authorities refuse to pick up the phone because of sanctuary policies, that’s not immigration policy anymore. That’s negligence bordering on complicity.

Sheridan Gorman deserved better. Every American family deserves better. And if Democrats retake the House and return us to the same policies that got her killed, we’ll get exactly what we vote for.