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President Donald Trump has attributed the tragic death of 18-year-old college student Sheridan Gorman to the lax border policies of his predecessor.
Gorman, a Loyola University freshman, was tragically shot in the early hours of Thursday morning while she was out walking with friends near the pier at Loyola Beach in Chicago.
The accused, 25-year-old José Medina-Medina from Venezuela, who entered the U.S. illegally in May 2023, faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated use of a firearm in relation to her death.
Addressing attendees at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraiser in Washington, D.C., President Trump remarked, “Just last week, an innocent 18-year-old college student, Sheridan Gorman, was senselessly killed while walking in a park.”
He went on to criticize the current administration, stating, “The individual charged with Sheridan’s murder entered our nation illegally from Venezuela and was released here under Sleepy Joe Biden’s watch,” labeling his predecessor as “pathetic” and the “worst president.”
He then went on to note that Medina-Media ‘was then arrested again and released again by the Democrat Governor JB Pritzker, one of the worst governors in the history of our country, in the sanctuary city of Chicago.’
‘Democrats politicians don’t care about the American blood they spill in their very demented pursuit of these open borders,’ Trump then argued, before vowing that Republicans would end sanctuary policies.
Medina-Medina had been apprehended by US Border Patrol on May 9, 2023, but was released into the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Just over a month later, on June 19, 2023, he was arrested in Chicago for allegedly shoplifting $132 worth of merchandise from a Macy’s and was once again released.
President Donald Trump blamed his predecessor’s open border policies for the death of a Chicago college student during his speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner on Wednesday
Sheridan Gorman (left) was fatally gunned down on Thursday morning while walking with her friends near the pier at Loyola Beach. José Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan man who illegally entered the country in May 2023, is now facing felony charges of first-degree murder and aggravated use of a firearm for Gorman’s death
Court records show he failed to appear for subsequent hearings, leading a judge to issue a warrant for his arrest. He was never apprehended on that warrant.
The president has previously called Gorman’s death ‘devastating.’
‘These people were let in by Biden,’ Trump told reporters on Monday.
‘We’re getting them out. We’re getting them out fast. That’s why ICE is so important. They’re doing such a good job.’
Gorman’s family has previously said they are also upset about the policies that have allowed Medina-Medina to remain in the country.
‘We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime,’ the family said in a statement to Fox News.
‘When systems fail – whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act – the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent.’
But Governor Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have placed the blame back on Trump for failing to introduce comprehensive immigration reform.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker admitted there’s been ‘real failures’ in the US immigration system and that all levels of government need to continue work to fix it
‘This has been a terrible tragedy, and I know that the Gorman family has suffered mightily,’ Pritzker said.
‘There have been real failures. Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois. They’re national failures, a failure to have comprehensive immigration reform, a failure of the president to follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst.’
‘And in my view, we have a lot of work that we need to continue to do,’ he added.
Progressive Chicago Mayor Johnson also hit out at Trump on Wednesday as he announced that a snowplow in the city would be named ‘Abolish ICE.’
‘What the Trump administration is doing and has done has nothing to do with immigration enforcement or safety. It doesn’t,’ Johnson continued.
‘Ninety-five percent of the individuals that were detained by ICE were not the “worst of the worst” that he said he was going to go after, had no criminal record,’ he claimed.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.