JB Pritzker blames Trump for student allegedly murdered by illegal alien – but suspect released under Biden

Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Tuesday blamed President Donald Trump for the murder of female college freshman Sheridan Gorman, allegedly at the hands of a criminal illegal alien.

Jose Medina-Medina, a Venezuelan national released twice under former President Joe Biden in 2023, allegedly shot and killed Gorman on Thursday near the Loyola University campus as she tried to flee, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Despite the suspect’s history, Pritzker placed the blame on “national failures” and the Trump administration when speaking to reporters.

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“This has been a terrible tragedy. And I know that the Gorman family has suffered mightily … there have been real failures. Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “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,” Pritzker also said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “But it is the job of the federal government to go after immigration enforcement, and it is the job of our local and state law enforcement to prosecute or catch violent criminals and prosecute them, and we should continue to do that both on the state level and the national level.”

Pritzker attempted repeatedly to portray Chicago as safe just months before the killing, despite the city suffering from a lengthy violent crime crisis. The governor has in recent months feuded with Trump over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and backed a January lawsuit brought by his state against Trump’s DHS.

“We have watched in horror as unchecked federal agents have aggressively assaulted and terrorized our communities and neighborhoods in Illinois, undermining Constitutional rights and threatening public safety,” the governor said via a Jan. 12 press release from his office regarding the suit.

Moreover, Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in October ratcheted up his office’s sanctuary policies during a widespread crackdown on illegal immigration throughout the city. “Operation Midway Blitz” was specifically designed to “target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago,” according to former DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in September.

McLaughlin at the time blamed Pritzker and other politicians’ sanctuary policies for releasing and attracting dangerous criminals.

Sheridan Gorman was failed by open-border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he carried out this heinous murder.

On May 9, 2023, Medina-Medina was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol and released into the country under the Biden… pic.twitter.com/s6v57GPwyu

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) March 23, 2026

“Our thoughts are with the family, friends, and Loyola University community grieving the senseless murder of Sheridan Gorman. Violent crime has no place in our streets, and we expect the alleged perpetrator to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” a spokesperson for Pritzker’s office told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Monday. “The Trump Administration needs to stop politicizing heinous tragedies and instead focus on real solutions, like reinstating federal funds to prevent violence that support our public safety efforts.”

Control of the southern border occurred under Trump’s second term despite bipartisan border legislation introduced in early 2024 never becoming law. Democrats, including Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, claimed the bill was necessary to fix the border crisis that commenced under their watch, frequently blaming Trump for its failure to pass Congress.

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