President Donald Trump’s rally on Friday at Rockland Community College in Suffern was billed as an event focused on economic policy and a visit to support Congressman Mike Lawler’s re-election campaign in New York’s 17th Congressional District.
But the emotional centerpiece of the afternoon came when Trump invited the family of Sheridan Gorman to the stage for a series of raw and deeply personal remarks about grief, immigration policy and public safety. Sheridan was an 18-year-old Yorktown native who was murdered in March by Jose Medina, a Venezuelan national who was in the U.S. illegally. Sheridan had been attending Loyola University in Chicago.
Trump revealed that Sheridan’s death struck personally inside his administration because Sheridan’s father, Tom Gorman, is a friend of his Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, who also grew up in Yorktown and graduated from Yorktown High School.
“So it affects us maybe a little more than it would normally,” Trump told the crowd.
The event drew several prominent Republican figures and local leaders, including Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running for governor, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose speech was interrupted by the dramatic arrival of Trump aboard Marine One, which could be heard loudly overhead as the helicopter approached the campus.
Mahopac resident Alana Sweeny, widow of the late Judge John Sweeny, also addressed the crowd, speaking about how the administration’s economic policies had helped retirees.
Lawler, whom Trump repeatedly praised as “Mr. SALT” for his advocacy on state and local tax deductions, delivered a speech focused on the economy and policies specifically impacting NY-17.
But the mood inside the packed fieldhouse shifted dramatically when President Trump invited the Gorman family to the podium.
The president then described Sheridan as “this beautiful, beautiful 18-year-old college student from Yorktown, New York,” before recounting the circumstances surrounding her death.
"[Sheridan] was walking in a park in Chicago when she was gunned down by an illegal alien monster in cold blood. Nobody knows even why this happened," Trump said. "This savage animal who stole Sheridan's life entered illegally from Venezuela and was released into our country by Crooked Joe Biden and that whole Biden Administration of thieves and criminals. He was then arrested and released again by 'Dumocrat' Governor J.B. Pritzker, a terrible governor; has no idea what's going on in the sanctuary city of Chicago. Sanctuary cities protect criminals. They are a sanctuary for criminals, not for people like you or us.
First at the podium was Sheridan’s sister, Madelon, who thanked President Trump for helping the family briefly escape their grief.
“Thank you, Mr. President,” she said. “I have to say, you are just so funny. My family has laughed more, smiled more in the past hour than we have since March 19. It’s been such a gift. Thank you.”
Sheridan’s mother, Jessica Gorman, then delivered an emotional speech centered around Mother’s Day, which had occurred less than two weeks earlier.
“First, I just want to thank President Trump and Michael Lawler, and all of the legislators that believe and protect and are champions for our American children,” Jessica said.
“My name is Jessica Gorman, and Mother’s Day was just two weeks ago,” she continued. “For most mothers, it meant flowers, cards, and phone calls, for children coming home; for me it was heartache and tears.”
“Because on March 19th, my beautiful daughter, Sheridan Grace Gorman, was murdered in cold blood.
“They were hoping to see the Northern Lights over the Chicago city nightline,” she said. “Sheridan never got to see those lights.”
Instead, Jessica said, her daughter’s life “was stolen by a man who should have never been in this country, a man who should have never been set free in that community.”
“And every step, the system had a chance to stop him,” she said. “And every step it failed. And my daughter paid for those failures with her life.”
Jessica’s remarks repeatedly returned to the anguish of losing a child.
“No mother should ever have to wonder if her child called out for her in her final moments,” she said. “No mother should ever have to imagine her baby lying alone and bleeding on the cold pavement.”
“And no family should ever have to bury a child because public officials failed to put innocent American lives first.”
She also thanked the mothers from New York, Chicago, Rockland County, Westchester County and across the country who had supported the family through their words and prayers.
“I just want to thank you from the bottom of every piece of my broken heart,” she said. “I see you. I hear you and I need you to please hear me.”
Jessica urged the crowd to remember Sheridan “not only in grief, but in action.”
“Remember Sheridan’s face. Remember her light. Remember the life she should have lived,” she said. “Forget political party. Vote with your heart. Support leaders like President Trump, like Michael Lawler.”
“Please, please support leaders and policies that protect your child and mine,” she continued. “Because a city and a state or a country that does not protect its children has lost its way. And together, we must be brave enough to demand that it find its way back."
Tom Gorman followed his wife to the podium.
“I’m not a politician. I’m not a public speaker," Tom Gorman began. "I’m a father whose daughter was murdered by an illegal immigrant.”
He then described an anguished conversation he had with his wife a couple of weeks ago.
“I am a husband who had to hold his wife on Mother’s Day when she asked a question no mother should ever have to ask,” Tom said. “Through tears, she just looked at Maddie and me and asked, ‘Am I still the mother of two?’”
“There’s no answer big enough for that pain,” he continued. “No words, no comfort, no way to give back what was stolen from our family.”
“All I can do is hold her and tell her the truth. Yes, Jess, you’re still the mother of two, because Sheridan will always be our daughter.”
The crowd inside the fieldhouse fell silent as Tom continued describing the aftermath of Sheridan’s death.
“No mother should ever have to ask that question, and no father should ever have to answer it,” he said. “This is what failed policies have done to our family.”
“We did not just lose Sheridan,” he continued. “We lost our peace. We lost our future. We lost the life that we knew.”
Tom said families should not have to become “experts in immigration failures, release policies, warrants, sanctuary laws, enforcement breakdowns” because their daughter was killed by someone “who should not have been here and should not be free.”
At the same time, Tom emphasized that the family supports legal immigration.
"Legal immigration has made America stronger,” he said. “We all know families, neighbors, co-workers, and friends who have come and done it the right way. They worked hard, built businesses, raised families, and made this country better. That is America at its best.
“But illegal immigration is different. Criminal illegal immigration is different.
“We are deeply grateful to President Trump and Congressman Mike Lawler for comforting our family, saying Sheridan’s name and fighting for policies that put safety of American children and the citizens first,” he said.
But he also insisted the issue should transcend partisan politics.
“I do not understand why this is a fight that belongs to only one party,” Tom said. “Protecting our people is not politics. It is the first responsibility of governing.”
Tom closed his remarks with an appeal to parents.
“So do not just feel sorry for us,” he said. “Instead, remember Sheridan’s name and stand with us.”
“Sheridan should have come home,” he continued. “And because she could not, we’ll spend the rest of our lives fighting so that someone else’s daughter can.”
Tom ended with a final message to families in the audience.
“Parents out there, give your kids a big hug,” he said. “Tell them how much you love them.”
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