The tragic murder of a Loyola University student has intensified the ongoing debate between federal authorities and states like Illinois, which uphold sanctuary policies. This follows revelations from the Department of Homeland Security indicating that the alleged shooter was an undocumented immigrant with an outstanding arrest warrant.
Eighteen-year-old Sheridan Gorman, a freshman, was fatally shot last Thursday while visiting the pier at Tobey Prinz Beach with friends to watch the Northern Lights, according to the family’s attorney.
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The evening turned deadly when prosecutors allege that 25-year-old Jose Medina from Venezuela fired the fatal shot, taking Gorman’s life.
The day after the incident, Chicago police apprehended Medina, charging him with first-degree murder. Authorities used facial recognition technology to match surveillance footage with U.S. Customs and Border Protection records, leading to his arrest.
Investigators confirmed that the images from the footage corresponded to Medina.
Court documents reveal that an arrest warrant had been issued for Medina earlier in 2023 after he failed to appear in court for shoplifting charges.
Federal officials say Medina is an undocumented Venezuelan national, and that he should have never been released after that 2023 arrest. Over the weekend, DHS officials announced Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has “lodged an arrest detainer” asking state officials to not release Medina.
President Donald Trump remarked on the killing, calling it “devastating.”
“These people were let in by [President] Biden,” President Trump said. “We’re getting them out; we’re getting them out fast. That’s why ICE is so important. They’re doing such a good job.”
ABC7 Chief Legal Analyst Gil Soffer says the debate over the Illinois TRUST Act, which prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials, creates yet another flash point between federal immigration goals and the state’s welcoming policy towards migrants.
“It wouldn’t make sense for the feds to insist on a handover from the state for deportation purposes,” Soffer said. “Now, if he committed murder, there’s a very strong interest on the part of the state, and you would think on the part of the feds, to see that he’s prosecuted here.”
State law prohibits county jails from honoring immigration detainers, or requests by immigration officials to be notified if an undocumented person is being released from state custody.
Soffer telling the I-Team despite the Department of Homeland Security’s outcry, and calls from Gorman’s parents to keep Medina in custody, that’s very likely where he will stay given the state murder charge changes everything.
“He will almost certainly be detained on those state charges, regardless of what ICE intends to do or not intends to do,” Soffer said. “They can’t honor the detainer if that’s all that there is to keep this guy in custody. But that’s not all that there is to keep him in custody, there’s a murder charge to keep him in custody.”
Soffer underscoring it is likely Medina will face deportation proceedings, but at the end of a very long legal process as the murder and other serious charges against him play out in court.
Prosecutors revealed on Monday Medina is currently detained at Illinois Masonic Medical Center undergoing treatment for tuberculosis.
A Monday detention hearing was continued to Friday, March 27.
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