{"id":359669,"date":"2026-09-29T11:12:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359669\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T11:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T11:12:20","slug":"parents-of-daughter-killed-by-illegal-immigrant-sparks-lawler-conley-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359669\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents of daughter killed by illegal immigrant sparks Lawler-Conley debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The grieving parents of a teenage girl killed by an <\/a>illegal migrant put New York\u2019s sanctuary law on blast during a fiery congressional debate Monday night between Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and Democratic opponent Cait Conley for the House seat representing the lower Hudson Valley.<\/p>\n

Tom and Jessica Gorman were among residents in the 17th House district to call into the televised debate on News 12 to ask the candidates a question. <\/p>\n

Their daughter, Sheridan, an 18-year-old freshman Loyola University student in Chicago, was gunned down in cold blood by an undocumented Venezuelan migrant on March 19 while walking with friends along Lake Michigan. The defendant, Jose Medina, had previous run-ins with law enforcement but was set free before the deadly shooting.<\/p>\n

This undated photo shows Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old college student who was murdered in Chicago. Sheridan Gorman\/Instagram<\/p>\n

As his wife Jessica choked back tears during the video call, Tom Gorman asked whether the candidates would support federal legislation that would undo so-called state sanctuary laws, such as the protections that Gov. Kathy Hochul <\/a>and Albany Democrats enacted earlier this year.<\/p>\n

That law bars local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers regarding the detention of migrants living in New York illegally.<\/p>\n

Conley told the Gormans that Sheridan\u2019s murder was \u201cinexcusable\u201d but refused to say whether or not she would be willing to scrap the Empire State\u2019s new sanctuary law.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment failed her and for that we have to make sure that that doesn\u2019t happen again,\u201d said Conley, who noted, as an Army veteran, she had served as a military police officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safety and security of our families is something I will be unwavering in,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

On her campaign website, Conley said she supports revoking so-called 287g agreements that allow local cops to assist ICE with immigration enforcement \u2014 in sum, backing New York\u2019s sanctuary law.<\/p>\n

Tom and Jessica Gorman were among residents in the 17th House district to call into the televised debate on News 12 to ask the candidates a question. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Conley said she believes \u201cborder security is national security\u201d and that immigration enforcement is essential to combat violent crime, terrorism, trafficking and gang violence, but condemned the Trump administration\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n

She complained that ICE under Trump is rounding up \u201cpeople like grandmas and nurses and people in our communities\u201d rather than focusing on criminal aliens.<\/p>\n

Lawler pounced on Conley\u2019s non-answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Jess and Tom, what you didn\u2019t hear from Cait was an answer to your question. She does support Kathy Hochul\u2019s new law,\u201d Lawler said, reiterating his support for a federal law against states\u2019 sanctuary laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would not support federal legislation to end sanctuary policies. Let me be very clear, I stand with you. I am against Kathy Hochul\u2019s disastrous new law and I support any legislation that will end sanctuary jurisdictions in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

But both pledged to support helping Haitian migrants whose temporary protected status was revoked by Trump in July. Conley blamed Lawler for not stopping the president\u2019s action.<\/p>\n

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul announces further steps with New York\u2019s AI safety law, the Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act, during a press conference in New York City, on Sept. 21, 2026. Andrew Schwartz \/ SplashNews.com<\/p>\n

During the one-hour-long debate, Lawler and Conley fielded questions on numerous issues including the economy and tariffs, energy and utility costs, Israel and the Middle East, artificial intelligence and data centers, the solvency of Social Security and Medicaid, congestion pricing and even New York\u2019s policy that legalized the sale of marijuana.<\/p>\n

They agreed on a few issues \u2014 particularly in scrapping the $9 congestion toll to enter Manhattan\u2019s business district. Conley broke with fellow Democrat Hochul, who has championed congestion pricing.<\/p>\n

Conley said the cannabis law has been helpful to New York. Lawler said it\u2019s hurt the state.<\/p>\n

Lawler touted his advocacy for the law that lifted the cap on state and local tax deductions on federal tax (SALT) returns, which he claimed saved taxpayers thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

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Conley rapped Lawler\u2019s support of the Trump-Republican budget bills that trimmed spending on Medicaid and social services and said Trump\u2019s tariffs were \u201creckless\u201d and raised costs for constituents.<\/p>\n

She said she would raise payroll taxes on Americans making more than $400,000 to preserve Social Security benefits.<\/p>\n

Both candidates expressed strong support for Israel, including continuing military funding.<\/p>\n

But Lawler asked Conley, \u201cdo you denounce [Mayor] Zohran Mamdani?\u201d when complaining about the \u201cantisemitic base\u201d of the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

Conley shot back, \u201cDo you denounce Donald Trump for the harm he\u2019s caused to families in the Hudson Valley?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jose Medina-Perez, an undocumented Venezuelan migrant, allegedly killed the 18-year-old on March 19 while walking with friends along Lake Michigan. Newton District Court<\/p>\n

The candidates repeated positions they had already laid out during the campaign.<\/p>\n

Conley pushed renewable solar and wind power scaled back by the Trump administration to increase the energy supply.<\/p>\n

Lawler championed reviving the Indian Point nuclear power plant and allowing gas extraction outlawed in New York to boost energy and help lower utility costs.<\/p>\n

Conley endorsed Hochul\u2019s one-year moratorium on construction of AI data centers in New York, while Lawler opposed it.<\/p>\n

They both called each other liars for distorting their positions and Conley several times called Lawler a \u201clifelong political operative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawler and Conley are locked in a reported neck-and-neck race in a swing district that has become one of the most closely watched in the country \u2014 and could determine which party controls the House of Representatives next year.<\/p>\n

The 17th Congressional District, which encompasses Rockland, Putnam and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties, where a large portion of households have family members who are police officers, firefighters or veterans. About 20% of voters are Jewish.<\/p>\n

Lawler, a former state assemblyman long active in GOP politics, is seeking a third term.<\/p>\n

Conley is a US Army veteran and West Point graduate who worked in the Department of Homeland Security during the Biden administration. It\u2019s her first foray into politics after winning a five-way Democratic primary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The grieving parents of a teenage girl killed by an illegal migrant put New York\u2019s sanctuary law on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5200,3410,57,46937,3411,883,9,24,55,54,56,58],"class_list":["post-359669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-debate","tag-illegal-immigrants","tag-metro","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-migrants","tag-mike-lawler","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}