It looks like Joe Biden, JB Pritzker and Brandon Johnson have helped make another Angel family with their deadly “sanctuary” policies. The liberal politicians’ “thoughts” and blame-shifting once again won’t bring justice to those mourning the latest young victim of violence reportedly at the hands of another criminal illegal immigrant.
A fellow Illinois Angel Parent knows this nightmare all too well, and says Pritzker and crew have blood on their hands.
Murder in Rogers Park
On Friday, Chicago police arrested Jose Medina-Medina, who was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and related charges in the death of Sheridan Gorman. Police say 25-year-old Medina fatally shot the 18-year-old Loyola University freshman around 1 a.m. Thursday in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood. Gorman, according to local reports, was with friends to check out the Northern Lights at the time of the shooting.
Medina is accused of approaching the college student while wearing a mask and carrying a handgun. As Gorman attempted to flee, the suspect fired his gun and shot the young woman in the head. Gorman was pronounced dead at the scene.
Medina was scheduled to appear in court on Monday, but was in the hospital with tuberculosis, The Chicago Tribune reported.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Medina is a criminal illegal immigrant from Venezuela who was first apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol on May 2023 and quickly released into the country thanks to President Joe Biden’s open border policies that flooded the country with millions of illegal aliens.
Medina was apprehended again more than a month later, only to be released once more by Chicago authorities after he was arrested on shoplifting charges, DHS reported.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office did not respond to The Federalist’s requests for comment about whether the Chicago PD would honor the Immigration & Customs Enforcement’s arrest detainer “asking sanctuary politicians to not release” the suspect again.
‘This is Not Justice’
Gov. JB Pritzker’s office offered “thoughts” — no prayers — for the Gorman family, friends, and the “Loyola University community grieving the senseless murder of Sheridan Gorman.”
“Violent crime has no place in our streets, and we expect the alleged perpetrator to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” a Pritzker representative told The Federalist’s Brianna Lyman on Monday afternoon before launching into an “It’s Trump’s fault” accusation.
“The Trump Administration needs to stop politicizing heinous tragedies and instead focus on real solutions, like reinstating federal funds to prevent violence that support our public safety efforts,” Pritzker’s flack told The Federalist.
The “heinous tragedies” are piling up thanks to the rotund leftist governor’s political resistance to federal immigration law enforcement.
Gorman’s family issued a statement to the media thanking Chicago police and all involved in the investigation who “worked quickly to identify and apprehend” the suspect.
“But this is not justice — it is the first step toward it,” the family said. They said Sheridan Gorman was, contrary to dismissive claims, not at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“This was not random misfortune. This was a violent and preventable act,” the statement asserts.
‘When Systems Fail’
Absolutely preventable. Biden administration’s open-border policies opened the door to millions of unvetted or casually checked illegal aliens, some of whom have committed abhorrent crimes. Pritzker, a far-left cynical politician with presidential aspirations, has boasted about Illinois’ TRUST Act and its amended Illinois Way Forward Act, which bar local law enforcement for cooperating in immigration enforcement.
In a letter sent in late September to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Pritzker’s bought-and-paid-for top prosecutor, DHS called on the AG to honor ICE arrest detainers of the more than 4,000 criminal illegal immigrants in the state’s custody at the time — including “murderers, sexual predators, and those convicted of or charged with weapons offenses.”
Acting Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons said Illinois’ failure to honor ICE detainers had resulted in the release of 1,768 criminal illegal aliens since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term. The human toll included five homicides, 141 assaults, 23 burglaries, 24 dangerous drug offenses, 15 weapons crimes, and 10 sexual predatory offenses.
In the statement, Gorman’s family said they are “gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime.”
“When systems fail — whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act — the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent.”
‘I Know What They Are Going Through’
Joe Abraham is living with the dark permanency. Abraham’s 20-year-old daughter, Katie Abraham, was killed in a drunk-driving crash in January 2025 caused by a previously deported illegal immigrant. The suburban Chicago man told The Federalist he wants to reach out to the Gorman family and help them through a grief journey he has struggled to navigate for the past 14 months.
“I know what they are going through. I know what’s going to keep them up at night,” he said Monday in a phone interview. “I’ve gone days without sleeping. It’s an awful thing.”
Abraham says Pritzker has ignored his pleas for answers. The billionaire governor saved his tears for radical protesters fatally shot by federal immigration officers in the Minneapolis ICE meltdown earlier this year. Pritzker’s press people made sure to blast out a photo of the corpulent governor awkwardly bending over to place flowers at a makeshift memorial for the radicals who died while obstructing ICE operations.
“But where was that same compassion on January 19, 2025? That is the day my 20-year-old daughter, Katie Abraham, was killed here in Illinois. She was innocent,” Abraham wrote on X in response to Pritzker’s photo op.
“She did not knowingly put herself in the middle of an ongoing law enforcement situation. She was not making a dangerous choice. She was simply living her life — and it was taken from her,” he added.
‘Taken in a Moment’
Abraham has turned his grief into action. The Glenview, Ill., man is set to testify on Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution at a hearing on “Federalism, Sanctuary Cities, and the Rule of Law.” He’s taken up the cause of Angel Families, the thousands of Americans who have lost loved ones at the hands of criminal illegal aliens and the scourge of deadly drugs pushed or muled through the Biden era’s wide-open borders. He’s taking his case for Katie to the op-ed pages of some of the largest news outlets in America. And he’s talking to anyone who will listen to his campaign to change laws, hearts and minds.
Last September DHS launched its Operation Midway Blitz to honor the legacy of Katie Abraham. Immigration law enforcement officials were tasked with “relentlessly arresting criminal illegal alien drunk drivers across Illinois.”
More than a year after he and his family received a life sentence in Katie’s senseless death, Joe Abraham wants accountability. Not just for the criminals who kill and hurt, but for the politicians like Pritzker whose sanctuary policies have done so much damage across this country.
“I want things changed. Someone has got to be held accountable for this, for not only Katie but for all the other deaths that have happened,” Abraham said.
Now, another Angel Family is left to grieve, to think about what should have been.
“Sheridan was 18. She had her entire life ahead of her — her education, her future, her family, the countless lives she would have touched,” the Gormans said. “All of that was taken in a moment, and there is no way to repair that loss.”
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
