The Human Toll of Sanctuary Policies: Stories from Victims and Families

Thank you all for being here today. This is a regular meeting of the subcommittee on oversight. The women sitting in front of us today, you shouldn't have to be here. You shouldn't have to have a hearing on this topic. And what you should have, and we can't do, is to have your children back. But the systems of governing across this country have failed you. So you're here. And damn it, we're gonna listen to you. Folks have said on the other side sometimes there are a lot of things in defense of sanctuary city policies. And I say tell that to Laura Wilkerson, whose eighteen year old son Joshua was murdered, was murdered by an illegal alien from Belize. Belize. He was beaten with a wooden rod. His hands and feet were bound. His body was set on fire, and I'm sorry, I even say, have to say this, and he was left in a field. Joshua gave his killer a ride home from school that day. That was Joshua's crime. That's the kind of kid that he was. Tell it to Patricia Fox, whose daughter Carissa was riding on the back of a motorcycle with an i- with an illegal alien with no license and no insurance, cut across three lanes of traffic and hit her. And then he fled the scene and left her for dead. Tell that to Jen Heiling, whose son Brady, nineteen years old, a football and track athlete who had turned down college scholarships just to stay close to his family and his girlfriend, was killed, was murdered, when a drunk illegal alien drove in the wrong way on an interstate, at a blood alcohol level, just about three times the legal limit. So go ahead, tell them sanctuary policies make communities safer. Look them in the eye and say that. Tell them that blindly letting in millions of unknown people into this country makes us safer. It doesn't. We know it. It doesn't. And I know all of you know it. Yet here we are. This is a direct, documented, undeniable line between the policy choices that have directly led to the deaths of innocent Americans. In New York, failure to honor ice detainers resulted in the release of six thousand nine hundred and forty-seven criminal illegal aliens, criminal illegal aliens, almost seven thousand, with crimes ranging from twenty-nine homicides, twenty-five hundred assaults, two hundred burglaries, three hundred robberies, four hundred dangerous drug offenses, three hundred weapons offenses, and two hundred sexual predatory offenses. In Illinois, They had the man who shot and killed Sheridan Gorman, an eighteen year old freshman, walk in a park with her friends in custody. But they let him go. And we know because this committee obtained the Border Patrol documents when Jose Medina crossed into this country, he made no asylum claim and agents determined he was unlikely to run away. And look what he did. And the Biden administration released him anyway into our communities onto our streets into the park where Sheridan Gorman was walking with her friends. These same sanctuary policies protected the man who killed Katie Abraham and Ohio University student who was sitting at a car w- stopped at a red light when a drunk illegal alien who had already been deported once before slammed into her at seventy-eight miles an hour. and left the scene. He was driving on a fake identity with fake documents under a fake name. He had gone to three different bars that night. Sanctuary policies protected the man who killed Richard Williams, his seniors too, an eighty-three year old veteran, an Air Force veteran, who was standing on a subway platform not bothering anybody, who served his country. When Mister Hernandez, a Honduran national who had been deported from this four times with fifteen prior criminal charges. Fifteen. How many times does it take for us to learn? He came up behind them and he shoved them on the tracks. They call these policies sanctuary to make them sound nice? I wanna know - let you know what I call it. I call it negligence. I call it a dereliction of our duty to protect the American people that we serve. When your policies repeatedly release dangerous criminals who go on to kill innocent Americans over and over again, and you do it knowingly. I - I - and I don't mean to be harsh, but the only thing, the only word I can think of is murder. An ICE detainer doesn't ask for much. Hold a person who has committed a crime for forty-eight hours so federal agents can take them into custody. Two days. That's all he asked. And these governors, and these mayors, and these officials were all sitting in our comfortable offices, in our ivory towers, continuing to ignore the duty and ignore the safety of their constituents, and it continues to lead to one tragedy after another. We have had too many different types of hearings on this and yet it continues. That's why I applaud all of you when we talked in the back, that you have the guts that you have the strength, that you have the love in your heart for those that you lost, and the love in your heart to try to help other Americans, to try to change the system. You asked me back there, do the good guys win? Not all the time, but damn it, it's worth the effort, and you gotta try to win. This is worth the effort that you all are making. I mean it. I thank you. It's why I call this hearing, not for shrewd arguments, not for talking points, not for technicalities, not for all the legal words and the legalese, it's just a hearing for people. I want you to hear from real people. I didn't wanna hear from, and we put plenty of attorneys up there too, so I'm not crit- being critical, Mister Romanucci, but I wanted to hear from the American people who have been hurt and wanna make a difference. I called this hearing. I called it for Joshua. I called this hearing for Carissa. I called this hearing for Brady. I called this hearing for Haley, for Sheridan, and Katie, and Richard, and Stephanie. Do you want me to read all the names? I don't think you do, cuz it hurts. These are real people and they're real tragedies, real pain and real hurt, and you know what? Condolences don't do it. Feeling sorry doesn't do it. The words don't do it. Speech is like the speech I'm giving now. It c- it can't suffice. It can't do it. And I don't want anybody to sit here. I've heard people say, and I say this as a father and now the grandfather of two little ones. Don't say you know how you feel, because we don't know how you feel. We will never pray to God, know how you feel. Nobody can. unless you go through it. Nobody knows how you feel. So, I'm gonna ask all of us today that sit up here on this dais, and more will be coming in, to look you all in the eyes, and to look at you directly, and to listen to you, and to, and I want all of us to hear for ourselves the failure of sanctuary policies. I thank you. Now I'm going to recognize the ranking member, Miss Crockett, for an opening statement.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. And let me um echo um the condolences that he said not to give. Um regardless, as someone who I don't think will ever get comfortable with trying to explain the unexplainable, specifically to parents, um there is a due order that we all believe will exist, especially when you bring your beautiful child into this world. And the one thing that no parent ever anticipates is for that order to be disrupted. Prior to coming to Congress, um, I was frustrated. I did a lot of the same work that Mr. Romanucci does. I had to face so many parents that lost their children and shouldn't have. Whether it was doing the civil rights work or whether it was sometimes um being the criminal defense attorney that would have to walk into court and represent people and make sure that their due process rights were preserved because they had been accused of killing somebody else. Um so I will say that I agree with the chairman when he says that speeches cannot suffice. They never have, they never will. Um, but I must say that our actions have to speak louder than any words. And one of the reasons that I got into politics is because I felt like politicians are very good at lip service. And frankly, um, this hearing is a hearing that we have had over and over and over, where we've talked about sanctuary cities. And it frustrates me if I'm being perfectly honest because it doesn't lead to solutions. It feels like political gamesmanship and the chairman is my friend. But I always keep it as real as I can. So I wanna say thank you to each and every one of you for being here today. And let me be clear about something. Anyone who commits a crime, especially a violent crime, should be fully held accountable. No matter their citizenship status, race, sex, how much money they do or don't have, whether they went to school or not, or even if they're a government official, no one should be above the law. I've listened to similar witnesses um give their accounts and their stories, but Specifically as relates to the witnesses that sit before us today. Um, I've read your written testimony. And I agree with some of the specific things that have been said in your written testimony. For example, Ms. Fox, that policies have consequences and that public policy should not require a threshold of victims before it's taken seriously. The only people in disagreement with this statement are the Republicans on this They've held multiple hearings on this topic, but still haven't invited the families of anyone killed by ICE or who have died while in ICE's custody. More people died in ICE's custody last year than any time in the twenty-first century. And Republicans still haven't invited any of their families to testify before this committee. ICE and CBP have either shot or shot at at least twenty-four people including American citizens. Some have died. Others have been severely injured. A college student even had to have their eye removed after being shot in the face. Republicans have not invited any of their families to testify before this committee. As far as I know, Republicans have not even contacted the families of those killed or harmed. What our witnesses went through is tragic and devastating. And their loved ones You deserve justice. But I have to be clear and say that their lives are not worth more nor less than say the life of Rene Good or the life of Alex Pretty or the life of Ruben Martinez, a twenty-three year old US citizen who was shot and killed by ICE in March of twenty twenty five or the life of Miramar Martinez, a thirty year old US citizen who was shot five times by federal agents. Now Miss Martinez miraculously survived, but to Miss Fox's point, it quote " should not require a threshold of victims" before it is taken seriously. Just six months after federal agents murdered Ruben Martinez, they tried to murder Miramar Martinez, but failed. Just two and a half months later, federal agents killed Rene Good, just seventeen days after that, federal agents killed Alex Pretty, and each time Republicans on this committee have blamed the victims. If they had only been exercising their First Amendment rights, they'd be alive today. Or if Martinez hadn't, Miss Martinez hadn't panicked after federal agents ran up behind her, put a AR-fifteen to her head and said, quote, " Do something, bitch." If she had just stayed calm, maybe she wouldn't have been shot five times. This is what failed policy looks like. And these families deserve to have a voice? when they're dis- when they're discussing immigration enforcement policies in the United States. Republicans would rather parade families experiencing tragedy around the halls of Congress for political purposes than to actually fix our broken immigration system. In fact, I don't know how many people remember, but prior to the presidential election, the House and the Senate had worked on legislation. And there was a candidate that did not want us to take up the legislation because they wanted to campaign on a broken system. The bad part about campaigning on broken systems is that they continue to allow for harm to be permeated throughout the entirety of our country. And that's exactly what happened and that's what's happening right now. In fact, Republicans are ignoring all crime across the United States. They refuse to enforce congressional subpoenas to advance the investigation into the Epstein pedophile ring. They've been completely silent on the fact that Donald Trump issued unconditional pardons for January sixth insurrectionists, many of whom were convicted on separate charges of rape, stalking, child abuse, domestic violence, drug trafficking, and possession of child porn. For months they've ignored Trump's and Heksef's war crimes, when they ordered the killings of noncombatant civilians, many of whom were just fishermen, and now they're ignoring the president's illegal war and genocidal threats against the Iranian people. Republicans have completely abandoned the American people. ATF case referrals are down, DEA case referrals are down, the number of weapons seized by DHS dropped by almost eighty percent, drug arrests are down. In just the first six months of his administration, Trump's DOJ ended twenty-three thousand criminal cases, including investigations into terrorism, tax evasion, drug trafficking, and other violent crimes. And Republicans on this committee haven't held a single hearing. started any investigations or done anything about it.

Mm.

Drug traffickers, men who prey on children, murderers, and potential terrorists are all roaming the streets of America because they'd rather use these families' tragedy for political gain. I'm gonna be real honest about this. Your children should be here today. Believe me when I tell you that. And while I sit in this imperfect government and we all know that government is run by imperfect people because we are all human. There are policies that can be changed. And it would be my hope and prayer that we start to bring about policy changes that can prevent loss of life all around. But right now, as federally elected officials, the one thing that we could do to start to save at least some folk is to focus on the fact that we have what seems to be government-sanctioned violence that is leading to people dying. And we are the ones that oversee these government officials, and I would encourage the chairman to hold a hearing so that we can do that part because we are not elected to run any city. We are elected on the federal level, and we are the ones that are supposed to have oversight over DHS and others, and with that I will yield.

I thank the ranking member. When I make a mistake, I make a mistake. So it's important to me to start each meeting, and I forgot to do it, with a pledge, so we're gonna stand up and do the pledge, and then a moment of silence, just thinking about all that's transpiring. Please stand. Could you lead us in the pledges?

Please join me.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Remains silent for a moment of silence.

Okay.

I am now gonna recognize the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Mister Jordan.

Thank you, Mister Chairman. Thank you for uh that moment of silence. Um thank you for doing this hearing. I thank our witnesses, particularly Miss Heiling, Miss Fox and Miss Wilkinson for being here and for your for your loss. I just said this on the House floor, but I think it's worth saying again. They think about what's happened in our country. For four years, the Democrats allowed ten million illegal migrants to enter our nation. Second, they set up sanctuary jurisdictions all over the country to make it more difficult to remove illegal migrants who commit crime. And now third, they don't want to fund the people who actually remove those illegal migrants who commit crime. They don't want to fund ICE. I mean, that's their plan. And they're executing it. And of course, what's the end result? Tragedies like all of your families have had to endure. That's what happens. That's what happens when you adopt the plan that they're putting in action. That's exactly what happens. And so this is not political, as the ranking member just said. This is the facts. You've lived it in the worst way possible. The worst way, the most personal, to your entire family, what's happened is tragic, and you all know that. But you're willing to come here and testify because you want that plan to be stopped. Let in ten million, create sanctuary jurisdictions where illegal migrants commit crimes. Almost a third of the country is in that kind of jurisdiction. Eighteen cities, eleven states, three counties in the District of Columbia, that kind of jurisdiction. And then, oh, the the guys who go out and stop those bad guys, illegal migrants who did crime, they defunded them. Wow. That's the Democrats' plan? That's scary. And so this, this is not political. This is for you to come tell your story. So hopefully we can stop what they've started to the tune of ten. Oh, by the way, it just got worse. Just got worse, cuz on the House floor they said anyone who came here under temporary protective status is now gonna be permanent. Three hundred thousand Haitians who entered the country during the Biden administration, we're gonna make that permanent. So they're they're making it even worse. So this is not a political hearing, this is this is to get the facts and the truth about the tragedy you've had to endure because of Democrat policies, plain and simple. So I want to thank the Chairman for his work, for this hearing, and for your courage and your your willingness to come here today and tell the story. With that, I yield back.

I thank the Chairman and I recognize the Ranking Member from the State of Maryland.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the family members who came to Washington today to tell us the stories of how they lost their children. Please forgive my uh black and bloody eye. I am nursing a medical injury, but I did not want to miss this important hearing. And if the light gets too intense, forgive me if I put the sunglasses back on. There is uh no pain, Mister Chairman, no anguish, no trauma, no catastrophe worse for any parent than having to bury your child. And my heart and my sympathy go to all of you who lost a child, as I did, and to your children who lost a brother or a sister. Nothing hurts more than losing a child, a family member, in the prime of their life, or having them suffer a catastrophic injury or assault because someone else decided that their life didn't matter. You are all here today bravely to tell us how much the lives of your children did matter and do matter, and to ensure that their legacies here on Earth while senselessly cut short or dramatically altered, still live on in your work and in your families. In telling your loved ones' stories, you are advancing the righteous goal of ensuring that no other person suffers the pain of what you have gone through. You will not find a single member in this body who disagrees with your goal or your mission. This is a house, this is a Congress, filled on both sides with mothers and fathers, uncles and aunts, grandparents, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, we all want to protect our families and to keep them safe from harm. The terrible crimes that your families have suffered must be universally condemned. Victims of violent crimes, all violent crimes, victims of vehicular homicides, and vict- victims of reckless driving, all of them must be listened to, must be heard, and must be respected. Victims must receive justice for the dreadful crimes that took their loved ones away. Perpetrators must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of our laws. Those who attack police officers or those who attack civilians must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of our laws. No one should be granted a blanket pardon without proof of remorse. or rehabilitation or restitution to their victims. And once perpetrators have served their sentence here, if they're in our country illegally, they should be removed from our country. This is not a partisan problem, and nobody should try to turn it into a partisan problem. Tragically, the stories that we hear today can be told of any president. President Bush, President Obama, President Trump, President Biden, each of their administrations released undocumented immigrants who went on to commit violent crimes, we could fill the room with people speaking of their lost family members at the hands of people who came into the country illegally, under democratic and republican administrations alike. It's not a partisan problem. Everyone knows our immigration system has been broken for decades. Administration after administration, we have lacked the political will to do the hard work of putting together a bipartisan solution. We need an immigration system that makes it a lot harder to come here illegally, or impossible to come here legally, and a lot easier to come here legally to participate in the American dream. We need an immigration system that gives dreamers and others who have built a productive and law-abiding life in our country a pathway to legal status. Alas, this administration is focused on mass arrests, mass detention, and mass deportation that are dividing our country in unprecedented ways. To achieve this goal, DHS is not focused on going after the worst of the worst, a category of violent criminals quickly exhausted, with Stephen Miller demanding three thousand draconian immigration arrests every single day. Federal agents simply started indiscriminately rounding up immigrants and American citizens who looked like immigrants, according to the agents. ICE has arrested kindergartners, daycare teachers, parents dropping off their kids at school. They dragged US citizen grandparents out of their homes in their underwear, in subzero temperatures, and ripped children from their beds in the middle of the night, using them as bait to arrest their parents. When ICE does manage to arrest people with criminal records or charges, those are often people who are currently in custody. In many cases, ISIS effectively effectively giving criminals get-out-of-jail-free cards by deporting them in the middle of their criminal sentences, or even worse, deporting them before their trials can even begin, depriving their victims of justice, all so the agency can simply jack up the president's deportation numbers. This makes it vital to hear from families like yours who have suffered from terrible crimes to hear about the importance of accountability for those crimes, Your testimony is an important and powerful reminder that the fundamental responsibility of our federal law enforcement and justice system is to keep the people safe and to ensure that no one is ever above the law and no one is ever beneath it. The government must stand on the side of victims of crimes, not their perpetrators. I tried to remind Attorney General Bondi of that principle when she appeared here before our committee. That's why we've been so focused on insisting that we hear from the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. and Ghislaine Maxwell, in their elite pedophile network, the women survivors who our government has failed at every turn. We failed to protect them from the appalling human trafficking and raping in the first place. Then our government failed them again, by not holding any of Epstein's powerful friends accountable, exposing victims' names while censoring the names of perpetrators and playing outrageous political games with the files in DOJ's possession that they are legally compelled to turn over to Congress and make public. I was happy to hear that the First Lady of the United States agrees with that, and we hope that our committee will heed her call to hold hearings, as Mrs. Trump said, with the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's billion-dollar global sex trafficking ring. This is also why we speak up for all of the people victimized and harmed by the people who stormed the Capitol on January sixth, twenty twenty one. not only the over one hundred and fifty police officers who were bludgeoned, beaten, crushed, and even died because of what happened that day, but also for all of those who have been harmed by the January six perpetrators after they got their pardons from President Trump. These pardon recipients have gone on to abuse women and children, plot murders, and commit sexual assault and kidnapping. After January six, writer Andrew Paul Johnson got his pardon from President Trump, he repeatedly sexually abused two twelve-year-old children and tried to keep them quiet by promising to share with them some of the millions of dollars in restitution that he plans to receive from the Trump administration. If not for President Trump's pardon, these children never would have been molested. Their innocence would not have been shattered by this monster. It is essential to hear from people harmed also by the aggressive police-state-style immigration enforcement tactics that have terrified the country. They don't target the worst of the worst. They are the worst of the worst. This includes hearing from the families of the three American citizens, ICE agents have gunned down point-blank in our streets, like Renee Goode, the thirty-six-year-old mother and poet who was shot three times in the head and body by an ICE officer while she was driving her car. This includes the American citizens who have been profiled, beaten, detained, and even deported by ICE. It includes the police officers who are finding it more difficult to do their jobs because immigrant communities no longer trust them and prosecutors whose cases are stymied because ICE deports their defendants' witnesses and victims before their trials can even begin and it includes the family members of people who have died at the hands of their abusers because they were too afraid to report them to the police. for fear they would be deported. Failing to arrest and deport the worst of the worst makes all of us less safe. But so too does allowing federal agents to trample the rights and freedoms of the American people. I want to thank you all again for appearing before us today, and hope that we will continue to listen to the voices of everyone whose lives have been so immeasurably altered by the failure of our government to act, and enact meaningful policy changes to keep all of our streets and all of our people safe. I look forward to hearing your testimony today and I yield back to Mr. Chairman.

We thank the ranking member. Without objection, all other opening statements will be included in the record. We now will introduce today's witnesses. Miss Patricia Fox. Miss Fox lives in Denver metro area and is the full-time caregiver to her daughter, Carissa. Carissa was hit by an unlicensed and uninsured driver who entered the United States illegally. She sustained a traumatic brain injury and now requires full-time care. Jen Haling. Ms. Haling is the mother of Brady Haling, a young man who, along with his girlfriend, were hit by an illegal alien. Brady died from his injuries five days later while his girlfriend was killed instantly. The alien was a Honduran national and was intoxicated and driving the wrong way on the highway. Mister Antonio Romanucci. Mister Romanucci is the founding partner of Romanucci and Blandin, a Chicago-based law firm. He represents the family of Rene Good. And Miss Laura Wilkerson. Miss Wilkerson is the mother of Joshua Wilkerson, a young man who was beaten to death, set on fire by an illegal alien, who was his high school classmate, Joshua was giving this individual a ride home from school when he attacked him. We are gonna begin by swearing you all in. Would you please rise? Raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give is true, and correct to the best of your knowledge, information and belief. So help you God. Thank you. You may sit down. Let the record reflect the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Please know that your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entirety. We ask that you summarize your testimony to no longer than five minutes. Miss Fox, you may begin.

Thank you for reminding us where we were. I thought for the second that I wandered into an Epstein file hearing. Now that my, now that I've been holding my arms open to what life has to offer me, I couldn't be happier. That was the last text from my daughter roughly two hours before an unlicensed, uninsured, illegal alien would run a stop sign, cross three lanes of traffic without looking, and collide with Carissa, slamming her head first, into a concrete barrier. The driver then fled the scene with her boyfriend and aunt, not knowing if my daughter was alive or dead. My daughter was ambitious. She was enrolled in esthetician school. She quickly rose to the top of her class, landed jobs with high-end salons. She'd smile with confidence as she talked about her dreams of opening a skincare line, based on beauty secrets around the world. She was very specific that her goal was to make quality skin care affordable for everyone, because everyone deserved to feel beautiful. I was so proud of the young woman that Carissa was blossoming into before my eyes. She would have done it too, because when my daughter put her mind to something, she achieved it. Now, she's minimally conscious, nonverbal, is wheelchair-bound, and eats through a feeding tube. She has very little cognitive control over her body. She communicates discomfort through grunts and moans, and at night she often calls out to me. I think she's afraid of the dark, or of being alone, or both. I don't know for sure, because she can't tell me. I know the pole socks that monitors her vitals while she's sleeping, says her heart rate is high when I walk in. Then I touch her arm and sing to her in those wee hours, and her heart rate goes back down and she goes to sleep. And to think, we're the lucky ones. My little girl survived. I still get to kiss her. I still get to hold her hand. Many angel families don't get that. That blessing is not lost on me. For us, there is hope, regardless of what the doctors say. Because my God is big, and he happens to be in the business of miracles. But hope for the future does not erase today's reality. That reality is my daughter's care is now my full-time responsibility. Her medical needs are extensive. Her medical bills, well into seven figures, and growing. The personal responsible for this has contributed nothing. I'm not here out of anger, but out of responsibility. Responsibility to my daughter. And responsibility to ensure that what happened to Carissa is not simply dismissed as an unfortunate exception, but recognized as an all-too-common pattern. This is not just about my family. Destructive sanctuary policies carry real-world consequences. Angel families live with these consequences every day. Each angel family that comes before all of you is risking more pain and trauma. We receive death threats. We've lost friends. We have to relive our trauma over and over again, every time we tell our stories. But who's gonna tell our stories if we don't? You'll never hear Chris's story from Colorado Democrats, like John Hickenlooper, Jason Crow, Britney Peterson or Joe Neguse. So here we are, telling our stories until not one more American daughter, American son, or American family loses a loved one to these fully preventable tragedies. We are often told that illegal aliens commit crimes at lower rates than American citizens. They say studies show. But when you start digging into those studies, they don't hold up under scrutiny. So let's talk about some statistics that we do know. Unlicensed drivers are estimated to have five times higher risk of being involved in a fatal crash. They are often involved in reckless behaviors, such as speeding and impaired driving, leading to higher rates of serious injury and fatalities. Colorado has one of the highest rates of uninsured drivers in the Un- in the United States, with estimates between seventeen and twenty percent. Of all uninsured Colorado drivers, about twenty-five percent are estimated to be li- unlicensed illegal aliens. Do you think that a driver is magically protected from these statistics, simply because they're undocumented? Here's another factual statistic. Entering the United States illegally is considered a criminal offense under federal law. One hundred percent of illegal aliens are criminals. We often hear that enforcement should only focus on the worst of the worst. My daughter was not harmed by someone the - that was labeled as the worst of the worst. She was harmed by someone who shouldn't have been in a position to hurt her in the first place. I reject the idea that families must wait for tragedy before action is taken. There should not have to be a Carissa or a Brady or a Hallie or a Joshua. Public policy should not require a threshold of victims on either side. Our children are not your collateral damage. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Fox. No words, no words.

Ms. Heiling, you're next. Thank you.

My name is Jennifer Heiling. I am an angel mom, and I am from a small town in Minnesota. My son Brady Heiling and his girlfriend Hallie Helgeson were tragically killed while celebrating their three year anniversary at a concert in Wisconsin. We got a text that they had made it to their car and were headed home. This would be the last thing that we had ever heard from them. On July twentieth of twenty twenty five, our lives came to a screeching halt. Brady and Hallie were innocently driving home, while an illegal immigrant that was driving the wrong way while intoxicated crashed into them. She was a multiple offender, two times over her legal limit, and had failed to install her interlock device that would have prevented this whole incident from happening. And above all else, she's never had a driver's license to be on the road in the first place. This woman was not a hardened criminal. She was just a mom, a mom that was allowed to live in this country completely exempt from consequences for breaking our laws. Time after time, she was allowed to keep living here above the law without any attempt to change her behavior and bad decisions. The ability to seek protection and be shielded by living in a sanctuary city will continue to allow illegal immigrants to continue to take the innocent lives of Americans. If you wanna seek refuge in our country and make a better life for yourself, I am in total support, but expect you to follow our laws. Our safety depends on it. Why are we allowing people to live amongst us that want to cause us harm? Why are we expected to allow them to keep offending and not be deported? Do you think this is really helping anyone seek a better life? It is not. This is called being an enabler. If you are unable to live by the laws of this country, you should be removed at the very first offense. Why are we waiting for our children to be murdered? If the woman responsible for murdering our children was deported after the first time she was drinking and driving, we wouldn't be forced to be living this nightmare. To allow someone to continue to be on the road with multiple traffic violations and a history of drinking and driving, not to mention never legally obtaining a driver's license or citizenship is absolutely recklessness. This entire tragedy was completely preventable, and not just for us but for her too. If you think allowing anyone to live their lives here without consequence is helping them in any way become a better person, you are mistaken. This woman will have to live the rest of her life knowing she not only murdered, two innocent teenagers full of hopes, dreams, just ready to start their lives together. But she also destroyed her life, our life, and our community - and our community's lives. Generations of kids and classmates left to figure out why was this allowed to happen. It should have never happened. Try to explain to Brady's eleven year old sister that he will never attend another one of her events to cheer her on. He'll never get to see her grow up. Explain to his sixteen year old sister he won't get to be here to protect her from the guys with bad intentions or meeting her newest farm animal addition. Tell Hallie's brother that he's now an only child. All because an illegal immigrant that was allowed to live in a sanctuary city while breaking our laws repeatedly until she finally murdered someone with her reckless, selfish ways. And please, I beg you to explain to me that I will not get to watch my son grow into the man I was so diligently raising him to be. I will not get to see him succeed at all of his goals he has worked so hard to make come true. Then you explain to Hallie's mom well, she'll never get to see her little girl become a mother herself. And you explain to her dad why he will never get to walk his little girl down the aisle and give her away. Please, I ask that you tell my husband that the company he spent his whole life building was for nothing. Brady will never get to work alongside of him. Just so that a group of people that feel it is more important to protect those illegal immigrants, let them keep offending until they completely destroy the lives of innocent children and families is more important than our rights and safety of American citizens. It's really easy to say that we need to protect these groups when you are unaffected. It's really easy for people I don't even know to sit there and say my kids deserve better than to be part of a political agenda. If you believe this to be true, you are sadly mistaken. I don't wanna be here. We don't wanna be here. But we weren't given a choice. Our children were murdered. So here we are trying to prevent this nightmare from happening to anyone else. If it is to protect the loved ones of the very people attacking us. Some of my own family find it necessary to tell me this is an issue of drinking and driving, not immigration. If this particular woman would have been responsibly dealt with and deported after the first time drinking and driving, then we would not be in this position right now. My entire future has been literally stolen from me in a way that will never make sense, and it still doesn't seem real. I should be listening to Brady and Hallie tell me about college and about how they can't wait to come home for the summer. But because we continue protect protect people like this and give them free reign in our communities, the innocent lives will continue to be taken. Angel families will continue to multiply. Whose kid has to die before these people will see where we are coming from? Whose family has to be destroyed before they're willing to admit, hey, we have a problem? What tragedy has to rip their lives apart before they realize that when they tell me I need to look at my situation differently, it's selfish, heartless, and cruel? If my reasoning is wrong, then I pray that you will never know how it feels to live a day in my life.

Thank you, Miss Hyland. Mister Romanucci.

Chairman Van Drew, Chair Jordan, Ranking Member. Chairman Van Drew, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Crockett and Ranking Member Raskin. My name is Antonio Romanucci. I'm a National Civil Rights Attorney. And I have the deep honor of representing the family of Renee Good. It was her tragic death in Minnesota by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis that I took on that representation. I also represent US citizens whose constitutional rights were violated by federal agents in Chicago. And first, please, let me express my deepest respect to my co-panelists and mothers who have suffered unthinkable loss tragedy and trauma. Your family's tragedies are inexcusable, and we respect your courage. I know, as someone who represents victims of violent crime, that too often the second tragedy is that victims struggle to get the justice that they deserve. We share your concern that America needs common sense immigration reform. I have heard all of you say the same thing. But marching thousands of masked agents into communities, rounding up black and brown people, including children, terrorizing them while creating collateral damage of death and catastrophic harm to American citizens? That's not the answer. All Americans should feel safe in their own cities, where citizens are free from unlawful harm from anyone, including agents of their own government. Harm of Americans by Americans in American cities is devastating to our republic. Those who have committed these violations of rights must be held accountable, just as all people who commit violent acts must be held accountable. Allow me to give insight into an American mother of three, Renee Goode, who was killed while she was squarely being protected by the First Amendment. Here are words that her brother spoke to fellow members of Congress not long ago. Quote, " The deep distress our family feels because of Renee's loss in such a violent and unnecessary way is complicated by feelings of disbelief and desperation for change. Our family took some co- co- consolation thinking that perhaps Renee's death would bring change in our country. It has not." "These encounters with federal agents are changing many lives, including ours, forever. The most important thing we can do is help our country understand what a beautiful American we have lost. A sister, a daughter, a mother, a partner, and friend." End quote. The distress is also felt by Alex Preddy's family. It is felt by Maramer Martinez in Chicago. shot five times by a federal agent while bringing a donation to church. It is felt by elected official Juan Munoz, violently detained and used as a prop for a DHS video. It is felt by children separated from their parents and shipped to detention centers in another state. Family after family and city after city. The harms by our own federal government in American cities are staggering. Needless injury and death by masked agents undermining trust in all law enforcement. Violations of freedom of speech and Fourth Amendment freedom from unlawful search and seizure. False statements of absolute immunity for agents and false narratives about victims. Failure to properly investigate claims of police misconduct. What is not understood is that Renee Good's family cannot pursue justice against a federal officer the same way as if a state or local officer had fired those gunshots. This anomaly must end. Federal officers should not receive a special pass on accountability, and there should be a bridge to justice for all victims. Current law requires that you ask for permission from this federal government to file a lawsuit against it, and only allows for a trial by judge and not a jury, in defiance of the seventh amendment. Reasonable updates to section nineteen eighty-three of the Civil Rights Act or the Federal Tort Claims Act are needed to ensure j- access to justice and accountability for wrongdoers. I urge Congress to ensure all people have the right to a jury trial, including those hurt or killed by federal officers. In conclusion, I deeply respect the mothers who spoke their truths today. Their pain and anger and anger are something no parent should ever experience, and it's palpable in this room. The family of Renee Good and so many other families impacted by the acts of federal agents have likewise suffered immeasurable pain and anger and all victims are worthy of the right to seek accountability. We all want safety and peace. Criminal acts of all kinds must be addressed. Please create common sense immigration policies. Pursue accountability for the harm done by ICE with the same level of commitment that you pursue accountability for all people who commit crimes in this country, and demand full cl- full compliance to our United States Constitution. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Romanucci. Ms. Wilkerson, you may begin.

Thank you for having me here today to tell you the story of my son Joshua. My husband and I raised three children and Josh was the baby of our family. He was eighteen years old and a senior in high school. A classmate of his asked him for a ride home, and unbeknownst to him, that classmate wanted to murder Josh uh so that he could scrap his truck for some money. Instead of getting Josh home that day, we got an autopsy report that just exactly how Josh died. There are three manners of death, abdomen trauma, head trauma, and strangulation. I guess I feel lucky that he was dead before he was set on fire. This creates a hole in a family like you can never imagine. It will never be repaired here. Our lives will be different. It's like a bomb was dropped in our family. And even if we could pick up the pieces, you can't put them back together, right? I'm okay with where Josh was at today. What I'm not okay with are the lies that I'm s- hearing as I sit here sometimes. Josh deserved to live. His brother was defending this country in the Air Force. He got to come home for two weeks to bury his little brother. and then go back to defending this country and put his grief on the shelf. So now that he's out, he deals with things later, and it affects our family in every single way. The lies I wanna talk about today are what I'm hearing from Miss Crockett and Miss - Mister Raskin about. I think you said there's potential terrorists roaming the streets. Those are due to sanctuary city policies. You invited the criminal element, hey, come to our city and we're gonna give you sanctuary. What are you giving them sanctuary from? Law? Who else gets sanctuary from the law? Do I get it? You feel sympathy for me? I'm never gonna be the same. Can I go do what I wanna do and get sanctuary from the law? Eh, eh, I'm just, I can't even understand how you can say you're inviting the criminal element to come to your city, and what you're doing is putting them over the citizens, the ones that are supposed to be voting for you. although, you know, we know illegals vote in the elections. Failed policies are under Ob- under Obama and Biden, opening the US border to any and everybody, la- allowing them with no - without vetting them and shipping them off to other parts of the country so that they can vote in that area, giving them driver's license, giving them social security cards, allowing them to be citizens, without being citizens and vote for a certain party. So the lies about that what you're saying uh are are are just that, they're lies, do you know, you they can protest and as far as uh Miss Good's family, walk down the street all day long with a protest sign, walk down it all day long, but you can fix it by telling you can't get in the middle of a law enforcement investigation. I don't care how bad you think the policy is wrong. Don't get in the middle of an investigation of law enforcement. That'd be the first way not to die. You know, if you want a simple protest. Antifa is not peaceful protesting. Those are lies. It's lie after lie after lie after lie. None of you care about these people. You don't care about my kid. You don't care about theirs. You don't care about Miss Good. It just suits you. It's frustrating to hear the lies after lies after lies, over and over and over. I had hoped at my testimony ten years ago I wouldn't have to meet new families like this. Boy, I was so naive. We're still talking about giving sanctuary to people that broke the law. What about the people that stood in line and did it the hard way, wrote letters home to their home country and said, " Look, we made it to America." You know, they didn't know how to speak the language, they didn't have a car, they didn't have a lot of money, but they did it the right way, and they were granted the American dream. So many of them accomplished that. What about those people you're letting in uh in front of those people? How does that make sense in your eyes? How do you sleep at night saying you're gonna give sanctuary to people who broke into this country? I don't know how you sleep at night. But what I do know is you don't care about our kids. They're collateral damage in the poly- or the things that you want to happen. That's all they are. They're collateral damage. You can tell me about the sympathy, and I believe your sympathy. You don't want anybody to die. I understand that. But think about if it's your kid. You got any grandkids? You got kids? Think about your baby, the baby, your family. And think about in an hour you may have to go home, watch, listen to your wife tell you that your son didn't come home from school today because he was beaten and tortured and set on fire by somebody that didn't need to be in this country. His parents had overstayed a visa, his father was given a social security card and a driver's license so that he could work. And he overstayed that visa, and then he brought his whole family here without a visa to come in illegally. That is what I'm mad about. If you really cared about this, you would stand up and quit calling for sanctuary city. It makes no sense. And all you're doing is trying to put people that have come into the country illegally before Am- American citizens. Yeah, especially even about the the Rene Goodall. You know, I feel for their family. They have lost a family member through no fault of their own, but she chose to go there that day. She chose to aim her car at a policeman. Yeah, she chose those actions that got her killed. Policeman did, or eyestooler is deciding who to pick up. They're going after criminals in this country, and if you're in the middle of that and you get in the middle of it and you wanna go out there and tell them they shouldn't be doing it and you're an illegal, pick you up too. Sorry. That's just the way it has to be. President Trump And Tom Holman and the Border Patrol have stopped the leak of illegal immigration in this country. It is ICE's job to clean up the dang mess. It is gonna be hard. There are gonna be casualties. There are gonna be unhappy people and families that are hurting. I say if you are not putting your kid six feet in under the dirt and turning around and walking away from the cemetery you'll be all right. Stop the nonsense. Stop it. It's time to clean up the mess of what happened under the last few administrations. And you know, I really don't care if they're unhappy. I I'm so grateful they could go home and see their kid, or they can FaceTime their kid in another country, or the kid here can FaceTime. Their parents put them in that situation. Their parents brought him over or brought them over there when they were young. I understand it's no fault of the kids, but their parents put them in that situation. You have parents in other countries that come here illegally and then they c- they call for some yahoo to transport their kid across the border to join them. They don't care if they get raped all along the way, cuz that's what happens. We know it, I know it, you know it.