Earlier this week, Jose Medina-Medina, an illegal immigrant whom the Biden administration caught and released at the border, murdered Loyola University freshman Sheridan Gorman. Medina-Medina had previously been arrested at least twice in Chicago, yet was released by local authorities, thanks to their sanctuary policies. According to reports, he approached her, raised a gun, and opened fire as she tried to flee. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Democratic Party’s response has been nothing short of horrific.
Chicago Alderwoman Maria Hadden, a Democrat, essentially blamed Gorman for her own murder.
“From what police know, from — from speaking to the students who were with her, it seems she [Sheridan Gorman] might have …they were just out, you know, people go out to the beach all the time, right?” She said in a now-viral video.
“And they go out on the pier, they walk around so that the kids were out doing normal, normal things people do in the neighborhood, and it sounds like this might have been a wrong place, wrong time, running into a person who had a gun. They might have startled this person at the end of the pier unintentionally. But that’s all we know.”
Meet Chicago Democrat and 49th Ward Alderwoman Maria Hadden, who pretty much blamed Sheridan Gorman for her own murder:
“The kids were out doing normal things people do in the neighborhood. And it sounds like this might have been a wrong-place, wrong-time situation, running into… pic.twitter.com/QkJnRGqIaG
— Gina Milan (@ginamilan_) March 23, 2026
Gov. JB Pritzker attacked the Trump administration for politicizing Gorman’s death.
“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,” he said in a statement.
Fox News reported Tuesday that nearly a dozen Illinois Democrats are refusing to defend their votes against the Laken Riley Act in the wake of Gorman’s murder.
Illinois’ delegation split 11–5 against the Laken Riley Act. All three Republicans, plus Democrats Nikki Budzinski and Eric Sorenson, backed the bill, while 11 Democrats opposed it. Rep. Brad Schneider missed the vote due to a medical emergency but said he would have voted no, insisting that the Laken Riley Act was exploiting her death to “score cheap political points.”
The Trump administration believes Gorman’s death was completely preventable.
“Sheridan Gorman — just like Laken Riley and countless other American victims — would still be with us today and with their families if it were not for sanctuary politicians’ refusal to cooperate with ICE,” DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital.
The reaction from Democrats to Gorman’s death has been so despicable that Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) unloaded on his own party over it.
“Why can’t we just talk about that life lost?” Fetterman told Fox News’s Bill Hemmer. “Why can’t we just acknowledge that this is serious, serious failure?”
Fetterman also invoked the Laken Riley Act, the legislation requiring the detention and deportation of illegal immigrants who commit crimes. Fetterman was one of only a handful of Democrats to vote for it — a fact he’s clearly not going to let his colleagues forget.
“I think only seven or eight Democrats even voted for [the] Laken Riley [Act],” he said. “Why can’t you just agree that if you’re breaking the law and you’re already here illegally, deport them? I just don’t understand.”
He continued, “Tragedies like what happened to that young woman, they are gonna continue to happen,” he said. “That’s beyond common sense.”
Hemmer pressed him on why Democrats can’t seem to get there, and Fetterman gave an honest, if uncomfortable, answer.
“I guess they’re afraid of the base,” he replied.
Fetterman acknowledged that his positions put him in a tough spot inside his own party. He said he’s been “constantly punished” for breaking ranks — on the government shutdown vote, on his views about Iran, and now this. He doesn’t seem particularly bothered. “I’d rather be on the moral clarity or on the right side of history, or the correct kinds of principles,” he said. “That puts me at odds with parts of my party.”
🚨NEW: John Fetterman on Sheridan Gorman🇺🇸
“Why can’t we just talk about that life lost? Why can’t we just acknowledge that this is a SERIOUS FAILURE? It’s DEVASTATING as a father.”
“We have to protect America from the DANGEROUS elements that shouldn’t even be here.” pic.twitter.com/9SQnSbXC8d
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) March 24, 2026
