JUST IN: Jessica Gorman, Mother Of Sheridan Gorman, Makes Impassioned Plea For Justice—Torches Dems

[0:00] Hi, my name is Jessica Gorman. [0:02] Can you turn on your microphone? [0:08] Hi, my name is Sheridan Gorman. [0:09] I'm sorry. [0:10] My name is Jessica Gorman. [0:12] I'm the mother of Sheridan Grace Gorman. [0:14] Sheridan was 18 years old. [0:15] She was a freshman at Loyola University, Chicago. [0:18] She was beautiful. [0:19] She was funny, faithful, loving, full of plans [0:22] to build something with her life. [0:25] On March 19, Sheridan went with friends [0:27] to the lakefront in Chicago because they [0:28] hoped they might see the northern lights. [0:30] She never saw those lights. [0:32] The man accused of murdering my daughter is Jose Medina [0:35] an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who should not [0:38] have even been in this country. [0:40] And even after committing a crime and having [0:42] an outstanding warrant, he was left on the streets of Chicago [0:44] to murder my innocent American child. [0:47] But this story, it's not about him. [0:50] This story is about my Sheridan. [0:52] It's about how failed border policies, sanctuary city laws, [0:55] and twisted leaders refused to cooperate with ICE. [0:58] They sent her to her grave. [1:01] It's about a government and politicians [1:02] that forgot their first priority. [1:04] And the question before this committee is painfully simple. [1:07] When did protecting our American citizens stop being your first priority? [1:12] And even more important, why did protecting our American citizens [1:16] stop being your first priority? [1:18] I want an explanation. [1:19] I need one. [1:21] And I deserve one. [1:22] But first, I want you to know who my Sheridan was. [1:27] I want you to understand what we all lost because of your mismatch priorities. [1:35] My husband and I have always joked that our older daughter Madeline is our pride, [1:39] while Sheridan was our joy. [1:40] From the moment she was born, Sheridan was pure energy, enthusiasm, laughter, fun. [1:46] She was the kind of person who made every room brighter and usually a little louder. [1:51] Which is why when Sheridan was in kindergarten, I remember going to her first parent-teacher conference. [1:56] I was a little nervous because while she was the sweetest little girl you could possibly imagine, [2:00] she was also the chattiest. [2:03] I remember sitting down across from her teacher, bracing myself and asking with bated breath, [2:09] So, how's my Sheridan? [2:11] I'll never forget when the teacher looked at me very seriously and said, [2:15] I only have one thing to say to you. [2:17] Oh, my stomach dropped. [2:20] Then she said, your Sheridan stalks the buddy bench. [2:24] I remember blinking at her, I'm sorry, what? [2:27] She said, your Sheridan stalks the buddy bench. [2:31] I was totally confused and I asked, is that a good thing or is that a bad thing? [2:35] And what exactly is a buddy bench? [2:38] And the teacher smiled and said, it's a beautiful thing. [2:41] She explained that they had a bench in the play yard. [2:44] She said that not all kids are as outgoing and confident as your Sheridan. [2:48] So the children were told that if they wanted to play or if they felt lonely, left out, shy, [2:52] they could sit on that bench. [2:54] And then the other children were told that if they saw someone sitting there, they should [2:59] go over, talk to them, ask them to play. [3:01] And apparently Sheridan, my tiny kindergartner, had appointed herself the guardian of that bench. [3:08] Every day at recess, instead of heading straight to the swings or joining in a game of kickball, [3:12] my daughter hung back and hovered by the nearby tree, just watching that bench, just waiting, [3:18] just in case someone might need her. [3:20] The kids didn't even have a chance to fully sit down on the bench before Sheridan was [3:26] rushing over to take them, you know, to take their hand, pull them away. [3:31] Girls, boys, first graders, kindergartners, it really didn't matter to her. [3:35] If the child looked lonely, Sheridan went over. [3:38] If someone had no one to play with, Sheridan was there. [3:42] If someone felt invisible, Sheridan saw them. [3:45] That was my daughter, and that is who she was until the day she was stolen from us. [3:51] And I honestly can't make sense of it. [3:53] I cannot make peace with it. [3:55] And in what world does the child who spent her life making sure no one was lonely die [4:00] terrified and alone on a pier in Chicago? [4:03] In what world does the girl who saw everyone become invisible to the people in power responsible [4:09] for protecting her? [4:11] This cannot be explained away, and it cannot be buried beneath a list of unrelated issues [4:15] that you all paraded before us. [4:18] Thanks for telling me without telling me that, you know, you're here, but you don't want [4:22] to be. [4:23] This is the fourth time you had Angel families. [4:27] Thanks for telling me you don't care. [4:30] This cannot be buried under your slogans, your statistics or excuses, and this just can't [4:35] stand. [4:36] Today, I bring this back to the buddy bench. [4:39] I think Congress needs one. [4:41] I think every governor, every mayor, every sanctuary city official and politician shifting blame [4:47] and interest, hiding behind their slogans and talking points should have to all sit on [4:51] one. [4:52] And I challenge you all to sit down with me, take my hand, look me in the eye, and then [4:58] explain to me, because I just don't understand. [5:01] Explain why people here illegally matter more than your American citizens. [5:05] Explain why sanctuary policies matter more than my Sheridan's life. [5:10] Explain why cooperation with ICE was too much to ask for. [5:15] But asking our American parents to bury our children is somehow acceptable. [5:20] Ask me. [5:21] I need you to tell me. [5:22] I want you to imagine that that little girl on the buddy bench, that innocent college freshman [5:27] with a heart full of compassion and a head full of dreams that was gunned down by an illegal [5:33] immigrant. [5:34] I want you to imagine that was your daughter, not mine. [5:38] What if she was yours? [5:39] Would you even hesitate for one second to act or to make changes? [5:43] My Sheridan spent her whole life choosing others. [5:47] Today, I'm just asking this committee, this committee in our Congress and our country to choose [5:52] her. [5:54] She was worth protecting. [5:56] She was worth saving. [5:58] She was worth your brave vote. [6:00] To all of those who have supported us, who have prayed for us, who have cried with us, [6:06] and to those who have had the courage to speak out and say Sheridan's name, thank you. [6:11] Because every time you say her name, you give a piece of her back to us. [6:16] To remind the world that Sheridan was not a talking point. [6:19] She wasn't a statistic or a headline. [6:22] She was our daughter. [6:24] She will always be my sweet sunshine. [6:26] And if the people who failed her would rather look away, then I'm asking the rest of you [6:32] to look right at her. [6:33] Here she is. [6:34] There's she and I. [6:35] Here she is. [6:36] This is the take in the day before she died. [6:39] Say her name. [6:40] Tell her story and demand better. [6:43] Because my Sheridan Grace Gorman should still be alive. [6:46] No mother should have to stand where I am standing, begging, begging elected leaders [6:54] to value my child's life after it's already too late. [7:00] I cried when I came into the room. [7:02] I saw this poster that you made. [7:04] It says, at every stop, the system had a chance to stop him. [7:08] At every step, it failed. [7:10] And my daughter paid for those failures, your failures, with her life. [7:16] No family should ever have to bury a child because public officials fail to put American [7:21] lives first. [7:22] I'm just asking you to choose us. [7:24] We choose you. [7:25] We choose you. [7:26] Choose us. [7:28] Why does my child matter less than an illegal immigrant? [7:31] Why? [7:33] Listen, I have a heart. [7:34] I love immigrants. [7:35] Two of my best friends in this whole world are immigrants. [7:37] They came here the right way. [7:38] I absolutely think they make America beautiful, but my daughter's beautiful, too. [7:43] I need you to think about what these policies are, and I need you to imagine this is your [7:50] daughter because I'm very sure you won't be cutting off anyone when they're speaking. [7:55] You won't. [7:56] I'd be very sure you won't call this a political stunt. [8:00] The grief is real. [8:01] Every day I wake up with unimaginable pain. [8:04] You know when I wake up in the middle of the night and I think, did my daughter cry for [8:11] me? [8:12] She made it 40 feet. [8:13] She made it 40 feet running for her life. [8:16] Did she cry out for me? [8:19] She died on that pavement all by herself, lonely, bleeding on that pavement. [8:25] And I will never, ever rest. [8:27] I actually have to say that I am devastated, my husband and I. [8:32] We're only a couple years away from retirement. [8:34] I've worked my whole life so hard, all I wanted to do was just enjoy our children. [8:40] Just wanted to enjoy my Sheridan, my Madeline. [8:44] And now I'm bitter. [8:45] I'm bitter because I'm a lover, not a fighter. [8:49] I'm a lover. [8:50] I love children. [8:51] I love pumping people up and making them feel good about themselves. [8:55] I'm not racist. [8:56] I'm not xenophobic. [8:57] We've done everything right, my husband and I. [8:59] We taught our daughter to be wonderful, beautiful person. [9:02] Her love was extravagant, and now I'm going to have to spend my last waking moment, I'm [9:10] going to have to spend fighting, fighting against these policies, fighting for people [9:15] to say her name. [9:18] So if you have the courage, please come talk to me. [9:23] Come sit on that bench. [9:24] I'll buy Congress a bench. [9:26] Talk to each other. [9:28] Talk to each other. [9:30] We shouldn't be screaming across the room, I mean. [9:33] We also shouldn't say, but, because I have to just say, and I understand that you're [9:36] here for a reason. [9:38] I don't understand why it's only the Republican side that cares about our American children. [9:44] And I know that you're a mother. [9:45] I know that you're a father. [9:46] I deeply value that. [9:48] But basically what you just did, what you said was, I'm so sorry for your loss. [9:53] I have a daughter too. [9:54] I have a son. [9:55] I feel your pain. [9:56] You don't. [9:57] You don't feel my pain. [9:58] Because the next words out of your mouth were, but, there's no but, when your child [10:03] is in a coffin, there's no but. [10:06] And I need you to understand that. [10:08] And if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here, I'm going to buy you a bench. [10:10] I'm going to buy, you can put that on the record, I'm going to buy Congress a bench. [10:15] And they can come and sit and hold my hand and look me in the eye and explain to me why [10:20] illegal immigrants are more important than my daughter. [10:24] I really want to know, because I don't understand. [10:27] Please. [10:28] I welcome you. [10:29] I will listen. [10:30] I will listen. [10:31] I care. [10:32] I care. [10:33] I just need you to explain it to me, because I don't, and nor, and nor, and I fear I will [10:36] never understand. [10:37] Thank you.