OPINION:
The Democratic Party’s indifference to the atrocity of innocent Americans being murdered by illegal aliens was on full display during a recent House Judiciary subcommittee hearing.
On June 30, border hawk Republicans presented two “angel parents” to testify about the preventable killings of their college student daughters in deep-blue, anti-Trump Illinois, which is, by law, a sanctuary for foreign criminals.
Angel mom Jessica Gorman told of losing her 18-year-old daughter, a freshman at Chicago’s Loyola University, to the brutality of illegal alien Jose Medina. On March 19, Mr. Medina randomly shot her daughter, Sheridan Gorman, in the back as she and her friends ran from Tobey Prinz Beach, where they had gone to watch the Northern Lights.
Mr. Medina, now facing murder and other charges, should never have been in the country, which he entered during President Biden’s insane open-southern-border free-for-all. He was previously arrested on shoplifting charges.
If alerted, Immigration and Customs Enforcement could have done to him and could be doing to others what the left considers unspeakable: deporting them and making America safer.
Angel dad Joe Abraham also testified. A drunk, reckless-driving illegal immigrant, Julio Cucul-Bol, took his daughter’s life. On Jan. 19, 2025, Katie Abraham was a passenger in a car stopped at a red light when Cucul-Bol, driving 80 miles an hour, slammed into them from behind, killing 20-year-old Katie and her friend Chloe Polzin. He fled the scene.
The tragedy never should have happened because Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national, should not have been in the U.S. He reentered the country illegally at some point and, in 2023, used a fake passport and ID to get a bank account with JPMorgan Chase.
“Government failed to honor one of its most fundamental obligations to us,” Mr. Abraham said.
There are three essential background notes on understanding Democrats, their open border policies and why they provide sanctuary to dangerous foreigners.
First, Mr. Biden opened the southern border for four years, letting the soulless Mexican drug cartels swamp us with their evil brethren among 15 million invaders. Some of them murdered, raped, ran over, fleeced, kidnapped and trafficked innocent Americans.
Second, the Biden border showcased this. The 1990s border hawk Democrats are extinct, eradicated by Marxist-oriented power-grabbers who decided that millions of illegals are the party’s path to one-party rule forever.
Democrats are so committed to foreign criminals that they created “sanctuaries” such as Illinois.
Third, let us abandon any pretense that Democrats care about fighting waste, fraud and abuse. In fact, ignoring fraud is essential to keeping the immigrant class happy. Somalis in Minnesota illustrate this formula.
As reliable Democratic voters, they stole enormous amounts of taxpayer money with little interference.
Fourth, when illegals rape, murder and mow down innocent people, there is no quieter group than the Democrats.
Now back to the June 30 hearing.
A heartbroken Mrs. Gorman has become an advocate for sensible immigration policy, not the Biden insanity of flowing in millions of unknowns who smuggle cash payments to the drug cartels, gladly sending us criminals.
“It’s about how failed border policies, sanctuary city laws and twisted leaders refusing to cooperate with ICE sent her to her grave,” Mrs. Gorman told the panel. “It’s about a government and politicians that forgot their first priority. And the question before this committee is painfully simple: When did protecting our American citizens stop being your first priority?”
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Washington Democrat who represents the socialist enclave of Seattle, has said ICE is “acting like a terrorist force.” Her opening statement offered a brief condolence and then: “Unfortunately, this hearing is the fourth time in this committee that we’ve had a hearing on sanctuary cities, the fourth time,” she said. “And there’s many other things that we could be doing other than this.”
Mrs. Gorman, at times in tears, later responded.
“This is why I’m sorry, I get so upset with your ’but’s and you don’t want to talk about this. ’This is the fourth hearing.’ … I didn’t even know what an angel family was, had no idea, never even heard about it. There’s so many out here. You know what I’m thankful for? I’m thankful that my daughter was just shot in the back of the head, not raped, murdered, dismembered. … And you can actually dismiss the angel families, you can say ’But.’ You don’t want to hear four sessions on angel families. I’m sorry, you need to … How messed up is that I’m thankful every day that she was just murdered, not raped and dismembered?”
Democrats became irate even before Mrs. Gorman’s testimony. Rep. Mike Lawler, New York Republican, had the duty of introducing Mrs. Gorman, his constituent. He exploited that assignment by reminding everyone how the country reached this point: Because of a Biden catastrophe, the Democrats ignore it as they lay waste to ICE.
“Back in May of 2023, over three years ago, Sheridan’s murderer illegally entered the United States,” Mr. Lawler 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.”
At that point, Rep. Jerry Nadler interrupted, complaining: “This is not an introduction. It’s a speech.”
“You should be ashamed of yourselves. This is disgraceful,” Mr. Lawler responded.
Then Ms. Jayapal objected, but Mr. Lawler was ready.
“This mother is here precisely because you have failed to do your job,” he shot back. “Wonder why we had four hearings? It’s because you don’t understand the consequence of sanctuary policy. … Sharing the details of her death. You may not want to hear the details. It may be an inconvenience to you, but these details matter.”
A shouting match ensued between Mr. Lawler and Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat.
“If you don’t belong in this committee, you should get the hell out of here,” Mr. Raskin told Mr. Lawler, a non-committee member.
Mr. Lawler’s response: “You should be ashamed of yourself. You’re a disgrace. … You’re an absolute disgrace supporting sanctuary policies.”
• Rowan Scarborough is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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