Marcus Coleman looked at a row of Democratic lawmakers in a House hearing this week and told them he didn’t believe a word of their sympathy. His daughter, Dalilah Coleman, was permanently disabled in a June 2024 crash caused by an illegal migrant truck driver who had been released by the Biden administration and then obtained a driver’s license.
“I reject your guys’ sympathy,” Coleman said. “To be honest with you, there’s no way you guys are sorry. Not one of you guys have ever called me. Not one of you guys have ever reached out to me. Not one of you guys have ever sat there and seen me in the hallways and said, ‘Hey, sorry about your daughter.'”
Coleman said the only time Democrats appear to care is when the cameras are on them.
You guys do it right here while you guys are grandstanding on top of your soapbox. This is when you guys care. Right here inside this room is the only time you guys care. I’ve never received anything from anybody over here at all regarding my daughter, or my family, or anything.
He also pushed back hard on Democratic talk of a “pathway to citizenship,” saying his family’s tragedy came from people who broke the law rather than followed it.
You guys want to sit there and talk about the pathway to citizenship? There is a pathway. It’s not jump the fence and apply. That’s not the way it goes. There’s a process to get it done. You don’t just do that. I can’t just go over there and go sit down inside one of those seats and become a Democrat.
Coleman closed by placing the blame squarely on the lawmakers in the room. “My daughter doesn’t deserve this. She didn’t ask for any of this. The people that jumped the fence did though. They knew exactly what they were doing. They still chose to move forward in that direction, and every day something’s happening to somebody, and it is your guys’ fault. I hold each and every one of you responsible for it, and I always will.”
Democrats sat silent, then pivoted to a pro-migration witness
The hearing, titled “Sanctuary Policies, Tragic Consequences,” was scheduled by Republicans. Democrats on the panel, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), sat stone-faced through Coleman’s remarks.
When it came time for questions, Jayapal did not address Coleman or his daughter’s injuries. Instead she turned to David Bier, a witness from the Cato Institute invited by Democrats, and argued the immigration system needs to be loosened rather than tightened.
We’re dealing with a [immigration] system that is extremely antiquated, and… the Trump administration has essentially decimated any other legal pathways that existed. When you look at the people who crossed the border over the last four years, where are they going? Those are the jobs they’re going into: meat packing and processing, dairy, and so on. That’s where we need workers, and there’s no visa at all for those people.
Jayapal went on to say the country lacks a formal process to match migrants to labor shortages. “There’s literally no process right now where we can say this is — these are the jobs that we need in the United States, and so we’re going to make sure that we fill those jobs. I mean, there just hasn’t been any changes to the immigration system in a positive light for over 30 years,” she said.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) challenged Bier over his support for continued mass migration during the hearing.
The exchange underscored the divide driving the hearing: a father who says his daughter paid the price for sanctuary policies and open-border enforcement, facing lawmakers more focused on labor supply for industries like meatpacking and dairy than on the family sitting in front of them.
