Jessica Anne Gorman, whose 18-year-old daughter Sheridan was murdered in Chicago, said Thursday that Democratic members of Congress laughed during her testimony at a House hearing on sanctuary city policies and that one lawmaker fell asleep while families of crime victims spoke.
Sheridan Gorman, a Loyola University Chicago student, was shot and killed while visiting friends near a pier and lighthouse in Chicago in March 2026. Jose Medina, a Venezuelan national who had entered the U.S. illegally and had previously been released after a shoplifting arrest in Chicago, has been charged with her murder.
Gorman spoke Thursday at a Washington, D.C. gathering honoring victims of violent crime, attended by Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, border czar Tom Homan and drug czar Sara Carter.
She described what happened when she testified at a House hearing on sanctuary policies, saying she could hear lawmakers laughing as she spoke about losing her daughter.
“And I thought to myself, ‘Boy, the hits just keep on coming,'” Jessica Gorman said.
She singled out Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who had told the hearing it was the fourth session of its kind and that there were “many other things we could be doing.”
“We were all insulted by Democrat Representative Jayapal telling me — literally telling me — and all the other angel families in the room … with disdain on her face, that there’s other things they could be doing except listening to four sessions,” Gorman said.
“They give us five minutes to tell our daughter’s story. Our dead children’s story. She listened to four before mine. She didn’t want to listen to another. And, honestly, I think she should listen to everyone in this room,” Gorman added.
Gorman also accused Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., of napping during the proceedings.
Fox News Digital reached out to Jayapal’s office for comment.
A Second Family, A Different Failure
Stephen Federico, whose daughter Logan Federico was killed while visiting friends at the University of South Carolina, also spoke at the event. He pointed to failures in the criminal justice system rather than immigration enforcement.
Alexander Dickey, 30, a career criminal with dozens of prior arrests, is accused of shooting and killing Logan Federico during a home break-in.
“My daughter wasn’t killed by an illegal alien,” Federico said. “She was killed by a home-grown American career criminal that we arrested 39 damn times. And he was on the street. Tell me that makes sense.”
“Can anyone tell me, please, how a felon like that is left on the street,” he added. “It’s from fingerprint problems. It’s from process problems. It’s from weak judges. It’s from weak prosecutors.”
