Democratic Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez criticized Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday for blaming President Donald Trump for the murder of female college freshman Sheridan Gorman, allegedly at the hands of a criminal illegal alien.
Pritzker blamed the Trump administration for the killing on Tuesday, despite the suspect, Jose Medina-Medina, being a Venezuelan national released twice under former President Joe Biden in 2023, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). On Fox News’ “America Reports,” Lopez said Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris’ administration bore responsibility for the killing due to poor vetting and the release of criminal migrants into the United States. (RELATED: ICE Nabs Illegal Migrant Trucker Let In By Biden For Allegedly Killing Amish Members During Crash)
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“He’s absolutely blaming Donald Trump. And, listen, I’m not a rabid Trump supporter or hater, but if you’re going to blame the federal government, then blame it where this problem began, which was under the Biden-Harris Administration that allowed 15 million people from South America, Central America, and across the oceans to come through our southern border, manipulate asylum, be poorly vetted, and then scattered to the seven winds of the United States,” Lopez said.
“That’s where this problem started,” he continued. “And I have yet to hear a single Democrat hold Biden and Harris accountable for what has happened because they knew who they were allowing in, they have their information, they vetted them poorly and still let them go even when they were criminals.”
Lopez further denounced Chicago’s policy of not collaborating with the Trump administration to pursue “high priority targets.”
“There are 2,000 priority targets in the city of Chicago right now who we know are dangers, courtesy of the Biden-Harris Administration that vetted them,” he said. “But we will not allow the Trump Administration to remove them simply because we don’t want to look as though we’re capitulating to him.”
Medina-Medina allegedly shot Gorman on Thursday near her campus at Loyola University as she attempted to flee.
“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.”
However, control of the southern border occurred under Trump’s second term despite bipartisan border legislation introduced in early 2024 not becoming law. Democrats, including Biden and Harris, claimed the bill was crucial to solving the border crisis that commenced under their watch, often blaming Trump for its failure to pass Congress.
Pritzker also repeatedly attempted to portray Chicago as safe just months before the killing, despite the city experiencing a lengthy violent crime crisis. The governor has in recent months clashed with Trump over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and supported a January lawsuit brought by his state against DHS.
Moreover, Lopez rebuked Pritzker and Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on “NewsNation Prime” in September for rejecting Trump’s assistance with cracking down on crime.
“I feel that the governor and the mayor are refusing to accept the president’s help, both in terms of the National Guard as well as with additional federal agency support … because they don’t want to be viewed as capitulating and working with the president … for their own political purposes,” he said at the time.
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