House Republican leadership says Democrat politics bears some of the blame for the murder of an 18-year-old university student in Chicago.
Sheridan Gorman, a freshman at Loyola University, was murdered by Jose Medina, an illegal alien from Venezuela who entered the country in 2023 and was released by law enforcement shortly after. Medina was then released again in Chicago after being arrested for shoplifting.
At a Wednesday press conference, House Republicans claimed that Democrats’ open-border policies and refusal to fund the Department of Homeland Security were contributing factors.
“Her murder could and should have been prevented,” House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain, R-Mich., claimed. Democrats’ refusal to fund DHS, the congresswoman added, marks a return to “their old chant, defund the police.”
Democrats have voted repeatedly to keep DHS shut down.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters that under House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Democratic Party is no longer “your grandfather’s Democrat Party.”
“They [Schumer and Jeffries] have filled the party with crazy ideas,” which has caused Gorman’s family to “have to mourn her death.”
McClain called out Jeffries for simply saying he will “look into the case,” when asked if Democrats believe the alleged murderer should be deported.
“[He] couldn’t even denounce this, McClain stated. “That is sick, that is sad.”
She also took aim at the reporters in the room, telling them that they are supporting people “who vote expose the American people to threats of terrorism.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., called Jeffries’ answer “shameful” on X, adding, “but not surprising considering Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to prevent law enforcement from getting violent illegal aliens like Sheridan Gorman’s killer out of our country.”
Emmer also addressed reporters at the Wednesday press conference. He refuted the notion that Gorman was “at the wrong place at the wrong time,” adding that “the only person in the wrong place was her killer.”
Emmer, who accused Democrats of fighting for illegal alien criminals like Gorman’s killer and wanting to return to the days of former President Joe Biden’s border crisis, added that Medina “should’ve never been allowed in this country.”
Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., who represents the state Medina crossed into from Mexico and was released in thereafter, added that the murder “was the result of sanctuary city and sanctuary state policies.”
“He was released twice, and for the crime of shoplifting. This is completely unacceptable,” Obernolte continued. “This incident was 100% preventable. It should not have occurred. This is not a partisan issue and shouldn’t.”
“Democrats don’t care about people, and we are seeing it play out,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters.
Johnson said Gorman’s tragic death “is the same fate that met Laken Riley, too, and countless others.”
Riley was a University of Georgia student who, in 2023, was murdered by illegal alien Jose Ibarra during a morning jog near the university.
“They know it’s crazy,” the speaker added.
