Jennifer Bos, an Illinois mother known among Angel Families, told a packed hearing why she believes Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche understands victims and will take action against lawlessness at the border. Her daughter Megan was killed and her family has been left to pick up the pieces, and Bos says sanctuary policies and political indifference cost precious time. She made her case to the Senate Judiciary Committee and urged confirmation of a nominee she trusts to put victims first.
Bos described an immediate connection when she met Blanche and offered a clear reason she thinks he belongs at the Justice Department helm. “I immediately felt so pulled towards him,” Jennifer Bos said, speaking about Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “You get a certain energy from people, and he is just the kindest… He listened to my story very intently, and you could just see his mind ticking like, ‘what are we going to do about this?'”
The family tragedy at the center of her plea was brutal and simple: Megan Bos disappeared and was later found dead, concealed and defiled. Authorities charged a man from Mexico, Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, with offenses tied to Megan’s death, including abuse of a corpse and concealing a death. Mendoza-Gonzalez has denied responsibility, saying Megan overdosed, but the case left a family shattered and searching for answers.
What inflamed Bos was how local policies allowed an initial release that she says put her family at risk of further harm. Due to Illinois’ sanctuary restrictions, Mendoza-Gonzalez walked free after the first hearing, an outcome that left Bos furious and questioning where public safety fits in for some officials. Federal agents later located and arrested him in Indiana, an intervention Bos points to as proof federal action is sometimes the only recourse.
Jennifer and her husband are now raising Megan’s young daughter, who was five when her mother died, and the personal cost is everywhere in Bos’s testimony. She spoke directly about what she sees as a pattern of denial from officials who once treated Angel Families as inconvenient. “We’re trying to make a difference for people who haven’t been touched by this kind of tragedy, who haven’t been touched be the violence that can be from an illegal immigrant,” Jennifer said.
Facing senators on the Judiciary Committee, Bos said she felt Democrats were not listening to victims and had tried to undermine Blanche before she even spoke. She noted she did not consult with Democrats on the panel beforehand and was blunt about her frustration with politics getting in the way of safety. “I trust that he’s doing the right thing for the right reasons,” she continued.
Bos made clear that for families like hers, partisan labels fall away when someone is missing or dead, and she appealed for leaders who will act. “You know, before President Trump came into office, Angel Families were inconvenient truths,” she said. “They didn’t want to acknowledge the damage that was being done by having open borders and by having people here illegally, that they couldn’t track, they couldn’t identify.” Her point was straightforward: accountability matters more than politics when lives are on the line.
She also called out local senators who she felt were slow to respond, reliving a tense moment with her own elected official during the hearing. “I was very frustrated listening to my own senator when he addressed me directly, giving his apologies, because all I could think of was, you know, I’ve been out in the public, I’m everywhere, I have been for the last year and a half, yet never once has he said anything to me, reached out to me or anything of the like,” said Jennifer. Still, she said that senator later approached her and she hopes they can work together on solutions.
At the hearing, Bos pleaded with the committee to act before another family sits where she did, urging confirmation of a leader she believes will enforce laws and protect communities. “I’m asking the committee not to wait until another mother is sitting where I am, confirmed Todd Blanche,” she said. “He is a leader who will uphold the law, honor victims, confront dangerous criminal organizations, and fight to give other American families the safety and lasting protection that came too late for mine.”
The emotional close of her testimony was a stark warning and a plea for real change in enforcement and priorities at the top of the Justice Department. “I couldn’t save my daughter. But Todd Blanche as attorney general, he might save yours because next time, it could be your child. It could be your family. It could be you.”
