Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson doubled down Tuesday on his defense of sanctuary city policies and his vow to stop "assaults" on immigrants, refusing to apologize to the family of Sheridan Gorman, the 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant from Colombia.

A reporter asked Johnson directly whether he would apologize to Gorman's parents for policies that "directly caused her death." Johnson ducked the question. "Once again, I believe that we're all grieving the loss of Sheridan and other folks who have lost their lives because of senseless violence."

That was it. No apology. No accountability. Just grief shared in the passive voice, spread thin enough to cover everyone and no one.

What happened to Sheridan Gorman

Gorman was shot in the head around 1 a.m. on Thursday, March 19, while taking a walk with friends at Tobey Prinz Beach, located less than a mile from Loyola's campus, Fox News reported. She was 18 years old, doing what college students do. She should still be alive.

The suspect, Jose Medina-Medina, 25, is an illegal immigrant from Colombia who prosecutors say hid behind a lighthouse before running toward Gorman and her friends and firing his weapon indiscriminately. He has been charged with:

• Murder
• Attempted murder
• Aggravated assault
• Aggravated discharge of a firearm
• Illegal possession of a weapon

Medina-Medina entered the country illegally under the Biden administration and was released into the country, according to DHS. His lawyer says that after crossing the border illegally, he was bused from Texas to Chicago, despite requesting to be sent home to Colombia, according to The Chicago Tribune. The governor's office reportedly said they have no record of busing Medina-Medina anywhere.

This was not his first encounter with the law. Medina-Medina was arrested in 2023 and charged with shoplifting after allegedly stealing just over $130 in merchandise from a Macy's in downtown Chicago. He failed to appear for court hearings related to that case, and an arrest warrant remained active until the alleged murder.

An active warrant. An illegal immigrant with a criminal record. Still walking free on a Chicago beach with an illegally possessed firearm. Every system that could have intervened chose not to.

The rally that said everything

On Saturday, the same day Sheridan Gorman was buried, Mayor Johnson appeared at a "No Kings" rally in Chicago and vowed to stop "assaults" on immigrants. Not assaults on college students walking near campus. Not assaults committed by individuals who should never have been in the country. Assaults on immigrants.

Johnson told the crowd:

"We have to get active. First of all, we have to make sure that we're participating in our democratic process. We've already seen election shift around this country, so things are happening. We have signed multiple executive orders to force ICE out of the city of Chicago."

A young woman's family was lowering her casket into the ground, and the mayor of the city where she was killed was bragging about keeping federal immigration enforcement out of Chicago. The timing alone is an indictment. The substance is worse.

By Tuesday, Johnson had the chance to recalibrate. He chose not to. Pressed again on whether he would apologize, he offered what has become his signature move: acknowledge the tragedy in the vaguest possible terms, then pivot to defending the policies that contributed to it.

"You know, look, burying a child is something that no parent should have to do, especially as someone who is a parent. The tragedy that occurred is one that, quite frankly — it challenges us to do better to ensure that we are protecting people — and you know, as far as the call for no kings, what I said, and I still stand by this, that we do have to protect working people. We do have to ensure that the immigrant community is not being assaulted."

Read that again. He was asked about a murdered teenager. He responded by restating his commitment to shielding the immigrant community. The victim disappeared from his own answer before he finished giving it.

The blame shuffle

When the policy questions got sharper, Johnson reached for history.

"And let's just be very clear, between the SAFE-T Act and the welcoming city ordinance, the welcoming city ordinance was passed 40 years ago by the first Black mayor in the history of Chicago, and the SAFE-T Act was passed under the governor at that time, who was a Republican."

This is the political equivalent of pointing behind you and running. The welcoming city ordinance may have been passed 40 years ago, but Johnson is the one enforcing it now. He is the one signing "multiple executive orders to force ICE out of the city of Chicago." He is the one choosing, every single day, to maintain a policy framework that prevents an illegal immigrant with an active arrest warrant from being flagged, detained, or deported. The fact that someone else built the house does not absolve the man who refuses to fix the broken lock on the front door.

Johnson also invoked the Constitution. "Violating people's Constitutional rights does not make us safer," he said. But the Constitution does not grant illegal immigrants the right to remain in the country unimpeded. Federal immigration law exists. Enforcing it is not a constitutional violation. It is the opposite.

A family refuses to be generalized

The Gorman family, to their immense credit, refused to let the mayor reduce their daughter to a talking point.

"What happened to Sheridan cannot be reduced to a 'senseless tragedy,' nor can it be explained in general terms about public safety. Sheridan was our daughter. She was 18 years old. She was doing something entirely normal—walking near her campus with friends. She should be here."

They went further: "Calling this 'senseless' is not enough. There must be a clear and honest accounting of what went wrong. We will not allow Sheridan's life to be reduced to a talking point or a generalization. We expect leadership that is willing to confront hard truths and ensure that what happened to her does not happen again."

That is what moral clarity sounds like. No partisan framing. No euphemism. Just parents demanding that their daughter's death be treated as what it is: the consequence of specific failures by specific people in positions of power.

The cost of sanctuary

Brandon Johnson's Chicago operates on a simple principle: protecting illegal immigrants from federal enforcement is more important than the risks that policy creates for everyone else. That is not a caricature. It is what he said, out loud, at a rally, on the day a teenager killed by an illegal immigrant was being buried.

Medina-Medina entered illegally. He was released into the country. He committed a crime. He skipped court. A warrant was issued. He stayed in Chicago, undetected and undisturbed, until he allegedly hid behind a lighthouse and opened fire on a group of college students walking along a beach.

Every step of that chain involved a system choosing not to act. The mayor of Chicago is not interested in examining why. He is interested in making sure ICE cannot, either.

Sheridan Gorman's family asked for hard truths. Brandon Johnson gave them a campaign speech.