The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is confirming new details in the killing of an 18-year-old Loyola University student in Chicago, as federal immigration authorities again press state and local officials over the handling of a suspect previously released into the country and later by local law enforcement.
https://twiiter.com/BillMelugin_/status/2035788581587808479
“BREAKING: DHS confirms that the suspect in custody for murdering Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman in Chicago is a Venezuelan illegal alien who was caught & released at the border by the Biden administration in May 2023. DHS says he was also released from local custody after a shoplifting arrest in Chicago on June 19, 2023.” (Bill Melugin via X)
According to DHS and ICE, the suspect has been identified as Venezuelan national Jose Medina-Medina. He is accused of approaching Sheridan Gorman and a group of friends near Loyola Beach Pier in the early morning hours, pulling out a firearm, and opening fire. Gorman was struck in the head and pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities have indicated she was likely not the intended target.
Federal officials say Medina-Medina had multiple prior encounters with both immigration authorities and local law enforcement before the shooting. DHS states he was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol in May 2023 and released into the country. He was then arrested in Chicago for shoplifting and released again in June 2023.
That sequence is what federal officials are now zeroing in on. ICE confirmed it has lodged an arrest detainer and is urging Illinois officials and Chicago authorities not to release Medina-Medina from custody as the case proceeds.
The agency tied the case to broader concerns about sanctuary policies and the refusal to honor detainer requests, noting similar breakdowns in jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. DHS has warned that thousands of individuals in state custody are not being transferred despite ICE requests.
The department laid out its position directly in a statement following the arrest:
“Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods.”
ICE has also pointed to prior outreach to Illinois officials, including warnings about non-compliance with detainers involving individuals accused or convicted of serious offenses.
The underlying legal conflict is not abstract. Federal immigration detainers are requests, not mandates, and sanctuary jurisdictions have built policy frameworks around declining them. That tension has existed for years, but cases like this collapse the debate into a single question: custody, release, and consequences.
In this instance, DHS is not pointing to a theoretical risk. It is pointing to a documented chain of events, a release at the border, a second release after a criminal arrest, and a homicide that followed. Federal authorities are now making clear the next decision point is immediate and unavoidable: whether local officials honor the detainer, or once again release a suspect whose prior releases are now central to the case they are confronting.
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