Saying Their Names
While Senate Democrats protect the system that killed them, Rick Scott and Ted Cruz are the ones saying their names
Stephanie Minter
Stephanie Minter was 41 years old. She was a mother. On the evening of February 23rd, she was standing at a bus stop on Richmond Highway in Fairfax County, Virginia, when a man walked up and stabbed her to death.
Her killer had been in this country illegally since 2012. He had more than 30 prior arrests — rape, malicious wounding, drug possession, assault, larceny, and identity theft. A Fairfax County police major had warned in writing, just three months earlier, that his behavior was “escalating and becoming more violent and explosive” and that “it is not a question of if, but rather when” he would harm someone.
ICE had arrested him in 2018 and held him for nearly two years. A federal judge forced them to release him because his home country wouldn’t take him back. ICE lodged detainers in 2020 and again in 2023. Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid refused to honor both. After Stephanie’s murder, ICE filed another detainer. Sheriff Kincaid is still refusing to honor it.
So he was free. And Stephanie Minter was killed.
Sheridan Gorman
Sheridan Gorman was 18 years old — a freshman at Loyola University Chicago. On March 19th, she was walking with friends near the lake in Rogers Park to watch the Northern Lights. A man in a black mask and black clothing approached the group. When she tried to run, he shot her in the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her killer had crossed the southern border illegally in May 2023 and was released into the interior under Biden’s catch-and-release policies. That June, he was arrested in Chicago for shoplifting. He missed his court date, a warrant was issued, and because Chicago is a sanctuary city, he was never turned over to ICE. He was released twice without federal notification.
So he was free. And Sheridan Gorman was killed.
Saying Their Names
Two women. Two killers who should have been deported years earlier. Two local governments that deliberately chose not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Two families that will spend the rest of their lives asking why.
This week, in the middle of the Senate floor fight over DHS funding and the SAVE America Act, two senators did something that rarely happens in Washington: they said these women’s names.
Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) named Stephanie Minter directly on the floor, pointing to a statistic that should stop every American cold — 17,000+ ICE detainer refusals by sanctuary jurisdictions in 2025 alone. “Last month, a known illegal alien stabbed a 41-year-old mother to death at a bus stop in Fairfax County, VA. Her name was Stephanie Minter.” Senator Scott said.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) named Sheridan Gorman and tied her death directly to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s sanctuary politics.
These aren’t partisan attacks. They are true statements about identifiable women whose names deserve to be spoken by their government.
So why are Democrats doing nothing about it?
Because their voters demand open borders, even if it costs Americans their lives.
In fact, Senate Democrats have been filibustering DHS funding for more than five weeks. In order to protest ICE enforcement and placate their liberal base, they would rather let massive parts of the department go dark. As a result, TSA workers aren’t getting paid. Airport lines are stretching hours.
Meanwhile, Governor Pritzker — whose state just watched an 18-year-old college student get shot in the head by a man ICE had flagged twice — has refused to say whether he will honor the detainer for her killer. His public statement: “The Trump Administration needs to stop politicizing heinous tragedies.”
The girl was murdered in his state, by a man his sanctuary policies helped keep here. His answer is: stop talking about it.
In Virginia, Governor Abigail Spanberger — who rescinded her predecessor’s executive order cooperating with ICE — responded to federal requests by saying: “Get a judicial warrant.” The man who killed Stephanie Minter remains in local custody, shielded from federal immigration enforcement by the very policies Spanberger ran on.
This is the system Senate Democrats are fighting to protect.
That’s the bad news.
The good news is that the conservatives fighting this fight are not backing down.
This fight is worth having. And these women are worth remembering.
