Washington, DC - The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement held a hearing today on Sanctuary Policies: Victims' Perspectives. The hearing focused on how sanctuary policies, specifically in Illinois and California, endanger communities by putting the interests of criminal aliens ahead of the interests of Americans.

Witnesses included Jessica Gorman, Mother of Sheridan Gorman, Joe Abraham, Father of Katie Abraham, Gary Redman, Sheriff of Amador County, California and Sarah Pierce, Director of Social Policy, Third Way.

Opening Statement

During this session, this subcommittee has focused on so-called sanctuary laws that put criminal illegal aliens back on the streets rather than turning them over to federal authorities for deportation, as the law requires. The sole effect of these laws is not to impede general immigration enforcement - it is specifically to prevent deporting criminals.

The toll of death and destruction caused by these policies is heartbreaking. As the death toll of innocent Americans continues to mount, Republicans will continue to avail victims' families the opportunity to describe the catastrophic impact these policies have caused. Two of those families will address us shortly.

One is the mother of Sheridan Gorman. On March 19 of this year, Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year old freshman at Loyola University, went to a Chicago park with friends to watch the Northern lights. She was shot by an illegal alien from Venezuela, allowed into this country by the Biden administration. Within months of his release at the border, he was arrested for shoplifting. He should have been turned over to authorities for deportation then. Instead, Chicago's sanctuary law released him back into the community, where he had no legal right to be. Sheridan Gorman is dead as a result.

A few weeks ago, we heard from the mother of Stephanie Minter, murdered by an illegal alien with dozens of prior arrests - each time returned into the community by Fairfax county officials. Their excuse: that despite an $83 million annual budget for the County Sheriff, they didn't have the resources to pick up the phone and inform ICE they had custody of an illegal alien so that alien could be deported. When I asked them how much it would cost to make a simple phone call to ICE, and whether Stephanie Minter's life was worth the cost of that phone call, I got no response.

Last year, these sanctuary jurisdictions refused to honor at least 17,864 ICE detainer requests, of illegal aliens accused of committing other crimes. Instead these aliens, who had no right to be in this country, were released onto our streets to re-offend at will.

Illinois and California are just two examples of these renegade jurisdictions. Their refusal to cooperate with federal immigration officials terrorizes communities, incentivizes crime, and undermines the rule of law. In Illinois alone, in just 11 months, authorities blew off 1,768 ICE detainers and instead released these criminals back onto the streets, despite crimes ranging from weapons offenses to burglaries to homicides. According to documents obtained by this Committee, the Cook County Sheriff's Office alone released 408 criminal aliens from its custody in 2025 instead of honoring active ICE detainers.

The Democrats complain bitterly that we are focused on this tragedy. I can assure them that the Republican majority will continue to expose the human toll of their policies until they are rectified.

I'm sure we will re-hear their complaints that ICE arrests in communities have led to confrontations with violent demonstrators. But those arrests, that require squads of officers, and that put both officers and bystanders in danger, would not be necessary if those aliens were turned over to ICE while in the custody of local law enforcement.

They also tell us that refusing to cooperate with ICE fosters trust with the illegal alien population. This begs the obvious question, can LEGAL residents trust sanctuary jurisdictions to protect them and their families? And a U-Visa is already available to illegal aliens who are witnesses or victims of a crime.

Earlier this year, the Judiciary Committee passed the Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act. It prohibits sanctuary jurisdictions from restricting communications with ICE about criminal aliens; it empowers local authorities in sanctuary jurisdictions to work with federal immigration officials; it forbids local jurisdictions from shielding criminals from ICE; it restricts certain federal grant funding to sanctuary jurisdictions that thwart federal law; and it provides a private right of action for victims of sanctuary policies. All of that is common sense. We shouldn't need a bill to force state and local officials to protect American citizens over dangerous foreign nationals. Yet not a single Democrat on this Committee voted for that legislation.

In addition to the grieving families of Sheridan Gorman and Katie Abraham, we are also joined by Sheriff Gary Redman, of Amador County, California, in my district. He is dealing with an epidemic of illegal alien crime centered on illegal marijuana grows, and yet is forbidden by state law from cooperating or even communicating with ICE to protect his citizens from this scourge. The Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act would free him from these constraints.

It is inconceivable that such a reckless and dangerous policy as these so-called sanctuary laws could be supported by a major political party, but as we will see again today, that is the current position of the Democratic Socialist party: Not a fringe element, but the actual elected representatives of that party.

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and I now yield to the Ranking Member for her opening statement.

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