Now, she says what happened inside that hearing room added another layer of pain.
Speaking at a Washington gathering honoring victims of violent crime on Thursday, Gorman accused Democratic lawmakers of laughing during testimony and singled out Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., over comments made at the June hearing.
A Mother Confronts Washington
The June 30 House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing focused on the experiences of crime victims and their families in jurisdictions with sanctuary policies. Gorman appeared alongside other witnesses, including Joe Abraham, whose daughter Katie was killed.
Before Gorman delivered her testimony, Jayapal criticized the committee for repeatedly holding hearings on sanctuary policies.
“Unfortunately, this hearing is the fourth time in this committee that we’ve had a hearing on sanctuary cities,” Jayapal said. “There’s many other things that we could be doing.”
Those words clearly stayed with Gorman.
At Thursday’s gathering, she described them as an insult to families who had traveled to Washington to discuss children and loved ones they had buried.
“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 Thursday.
She also alleged that she could hear laughter from Democratic lawmakers while families were discussing their losses.
“They give us five minutes to tell our daughter’s story,” Gorman said. “Our dead children’s story.”
Gorman additionally accused Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., of sleeping during part of the hearing. Fox News reported that it had contacted Jayapal’s office for comment.
Sheridan Never Made It Home
Sheridan was killed March 19 after going to Chicago’s lakefront with friends. According to her mother’s congressional testimony, the group had hoped to see the Northern Lights.
Instead, the night ended in tragedy.
Medina is accused of shooting Sheridan near a pier and lighthouse. Authorities subsequently charged him with her murder. CBS Chicago reported that Medina was a Venezuelan national unlawfully present in the United States.
Gorman told Congress that Medina should never have been free to encounter her daughter in the first place.
Her testimony turned the debate over sanctuary jurisdictions from an abstract political fight into the story of an 18-year-old whose family will never see her graduate from college.
Gorman challenged lawmakers directly during the hearing.
“And I challenge you all to sit down with me, take my hand, kook me in the eye, and then explain to me — because I just don’t understand — explain why people here illegally matter more than your American citizens,” she said. “Explain why sanctuary policies matter more than my Sheridan’s life.”
Another Father Demands Answers
Gorman was not the only grieving parent speaking out in Washington.
Stephen Federico, whose daughter Logan was killed during a home invasion while visiting friends near the University of South Carolina, also addressed the gathering.
His daughter’s accused killer, Alexander Dickey, had accumulated dozens of prior arrests, according to reports.
Federico said his case demonstrated that the problem extends beyond immigration enforcement and into the broader criminal justice system.
“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.”
Then came the question that grieving families have repeatedly put to public officials:
“Can anyone tell me, please, how a felon like that is left on the street?” Federico said.
He blamed a combination of failures throughout the justice system.
“It’s from fingerprint problems. It’s from process problems. It’s from weak judges. It’s from weak prosecutors.”
Gorman Says Families Deserve to Be Heard
For Jessica Gorman, the political argument is now inseparable from the empty place left behind by her daughter.
She went to Congress asking lawmakers to hear what happened to Sheridan and to consider whether policies limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities can carry deadly consequences.
Instead, she says she encountered laughter, indifference and lawmakers who appeared unwilling to hear another grieving family tell its story.
“I don’t understand why it’s only the Republican side that cares about our American children,” Gorman said.
Her accusation against Democrats is her characterization of what occurred in the hearing room, but her daughter’s death is painfully real, as is the criminal case against the man charged with killing her.
The June hearing gave Gorman only minutes to describe the loss of an 18-year-old daughter who had barely begun college.
Months later, she is still demanding that Washington listen.
And she is making clear that, as far as she is concerned, Sheridan’s story will not disappear into another congressional hearing transcript.
