House Judiciary subcommittee hears emotional testimony and partisan clash over sanctuary policies

The House Judiciary subcommittee held a full-day hearing on the consequences of sanctuary policies, where relatives of two young women killed in separate incidents urged lawmakers to tighten cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Jessica Gorman, mother of 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, told the panel that her daughter "never saw those lights" on March 19, when she was shot at Chicago's lakefront. Gorman blamed what she called "failed border policies, sanctuary city laws, and twisted leaders" for allowing the man accused of the killing to remain in the community. "My daughter was worth protecting," she said.

Joe Abraham, whose daughter Katie was killed in a 2025 crash in Urbana, Illinois, recounted that a previously deported individual re-entered the United States and later was involved in the crash that killed his daughter. Abraham urged the committee to "demand full transparency, identify the failures" that allowed a returned noncitizen to obtain an Illinois driver's license and later be released from custody.

Sarah Pierce, director of social policy at Third Way, testified that sanctuary policies generally do not block ICE from basic enforcement steps such as fingerprint checks at booking and argued that problems include reallocation of federal investigative resources and delays or cancellations of Department of Justice grant funding. "When federal operations are chaotic, abusive, or deadly, local police are left to repair the damage," Pierce said, urging better federal-local cooperation and targeted use of federal resources.

Sheriff Gary Redmond of Amador County, California, described operational pressures in a small, rural county and said state law (California SB54) restricts his ability to hand custody to federal immigration authorities in many cases. He said he had contacted ICE multiple times to seek removals when allowed and recounted one case involving an alleged child-abuse suspect whose plea agreement and release were affected, he said, by the jurisdiction's sanctuary law.

Lawmakers pressed witnesses on facts and on policy. Members on the majority side emphasized statistics the chair cited about thousands of ICE detainers not being honored and argued that honoring detainers or notifying ICE before release is a modest step that would prevent repeat offenses. Members of the minority argued that forcing local officials to act as federal agents would violate constitutional limits and undermine trust between police and immigrant communities, which they said can reduce reporting of crimes.

The hearing included at least two sharply contested factual lines: whether sanctuary policies themselves directly "shield" criminals from detection and whether reassigning tens of thousands of federal officers to immigration enforcement has reduced prosecutions in other crime categories. Pierce told the committee that many federal grants have been delayed or canceled and that large numbers of federal agents have been diverted to immigration duties; majority members disputed some of the witnesses' framing and emphasized anecdotal examples of repeat offenders released after local custody.

No formal votes were taken. The chair and several members pressed for passage of the "Shutdown Sanctuary Policies Act," legislation described at the hearing as intended to require greater local-federal communications and to limit certain grants to jurisdictions that refuse to cooperate with federal authorities. Supporters said the bill would protect victims; opponents warned of legal, constitutional and practical consequences and urged more careful, collaborative oversight of federal immigration enforcement.

The committee took emotional testimony from families identified at the hearing as "angel families," and several members publicly thanked the witnesses for appearing. The panel closed with the chair allowing five legislative days for additional questions for the record and adjourning the hearing.