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The playbook is as predictable as it is shameless. When an illegal immigrant murders an American citizen in a sanctuary jurisdiction, Democratic officials go silent. When forced to respond, they express condolences while carefully avoiding any mention of the policies that allowed the killer to remain in the country. And when pressed further, they blame Republicans for “politicizing” the tragedy they created.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker just executed this routine with mechanical precision. After days of silence following the murder of 18-year-old Loyola University freshman Sheridan Gorman—allegedly killed by Venezuelan national Jose Medina-Medina while she admired the aurora borealis along Lake Michigan—Pritzker’s office finally issued a statement. Their message? President Trump is the real problem here.
“The Trump administration needs to stop politicizing heinous tragedies and instead focus on real solutions,” Pritzker’s spokesman declared, apparently with a straight face. This from the governor who presides over a state with the TRUST Act, which prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. The same governor whose sanctuary policies meant Medina-Medina, previously arrested for shoplifting, was released back onto the streets instead of being handed over to ICE.
Let’s be clear about what happened here. Sheridan Gorman wasn’t just in the wrong place at the wrong time, as one Democratic alderwoman insultingly suggested. She was in America—a country where she had every right to expect that violent criminals wouldn’t be protected from deportation by progressive politicians more concerned with virtue signaling than public safety.
The alleged killer, Medina-Medina, entered the country during the Biden administration’s border free-for-all. He was arrested for shoplifting, a crime that should have triggered his removal from the country. Instead, Chicago’s sanctuary policies kicked in, ICE was never notified, and he remained free. Now an 18-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her is dead, and Governor Pritzker wants to talk about how Trump is being mean by pointing it out.
Pritzker’s statement notably refused to answer whether he would instruct Illinois authorities to comply with the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that illegal immigrants accused of crimes be held for federal transfer. He couldn’t even bring himself to acknowledge that his policies might have contributed to this outcome. Instead, he demanded that Trump restore federal funding for violence prevention programs—as if the solution to an illegal immigrant murdering a college student is more government spending.
The hypocrisy is staggering. Pritzker was quick to condemn federal agents involved in shootings in Minneapolis, rushing to judgment before facts were known. But when it comes to a murder in his own backyard, committed by someone who should have been deported, suddenly he’s the picture of measured restraint. Suddenly it’s “wrong to politicize” the very policies he’s championed for years.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth that Pritzker and his allies refuse to confront: sanctuary policies have consequences. When you shield illegal immigrants from federal immigration enforcement, some of them commit crimes. Some of those crimes are violent. And sometimes innocent Americans pay with their lives. Sheridan Gorman paid with hers.
The only person politicizing this tragedy is the governor trying to deflect blame from his own failed policies. President Trump didn’t create the sanctuary state of Illinois. Pritzker did. And no amount of finger-pointing at Washington will change that.
Via Fox News, Gateway Pundit
Should governors who run sanctuary states be held accountable when illegal immigrants commit violent crimes? Tell us what you think.
Providence watches over the bold.
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