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In the wake of a deadly shooting in Chicago, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., criticized his own party’s reluctance to talk about violent acts carried out by illegal aliens with criminal histories and condemned calls from Pennsylvania figures to instead target Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Authorities are charging Jose Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan national, with the killing of a Loyola University student last week. Medina-Medina had already been arrested on unrelated charges months before but had been released.
“How many Democrats are talking about that case? I think probably none,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman said he was disappointed by calls from Philadelphia prosecutor Larry Krasner on Wednesday, who, less than a week after Medina-Medina’s shooting, had threatened to arrest ICE agents.
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Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., speaks to members of the media after a vote at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., US, on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Lighten up, Francis,” Fetterman said, quoting overstated threats made by the comically aggressive character “Psycho” in the 1981 movie, Stripes.
“[Krasner] is constantly — he says a lot of tough things but, you know, like, you gotta lighten up, Francis.’”
Fetterman’s comments come amid a string of illegal aliens who carried out deadly attacks after being released from captivity for unrelated crimes.
To the Pennsylvanian political maverick, the trend should be an easy one to condemn.
“If you’re here in the country illegally already, and you’re breaking the law, like — ya gotta go,” Fetterman said.
In recent weeks, the deaths of Sheridan Gorman in Chicago at the hands of Medina-Medina and Stephanie Minter in Virginia, stabbed to death by Sierra Leone native Abdul Jalloh, have intensified calls from Republicans for greater scrutiny of illegal aliens with violent track records.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) blasted the leniency afforded to both suspects ahead of their deadly attacks.
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Sheridan Gorman smiles alongside the Chicago skyline in Illinois. (Sheridan G. Gorman via Instagram)
“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,” a DHS spokesperson said of Gorman’s killer.
“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.”
Similarly, DHS blasted Jalloh’s 30 releases before he stabbed Minter in the neck at a bus stop.
“We are calling on Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and Virginia’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this murderer and violent career criminal from their jail without notifying ICE,” DHS wrote.
Fetterman said the issue of repeat offenders has long-drawn his attention.
“From what I read, the individual that was accused of killing [Gorman]. He was arrested for shoplifting. That’s why I was the Democratic lead on Laken Riley,” Fetterman said, referring to the Laken Riley Act that Congress passed at the beginning of 2025.
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President Donald Trump signs the Laken Riley Act during in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
That bill requires detention for aliens convicted of bodily harm crimes like burglary, theft, larceny, shoplifting, among others, and empowers state attorneys general to sue the federal government for failure to do so.
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Fetterman believes the recent attacks underscore the need for vigilance in enforcing immigration law.
“It should remind everybody how important ICE is for our security,” Fetterman said.
