Laura Wilkerson testified April 16 before a Republican House subcommittee about her son Joshua, 18. He was tortured and killed by classmate Hermilo Moralez, 19, after giving him a ride home from school.
A Texas jury convicted Moralez of first-degree murder in 2013.
The title of the hearing was “The Human Toll of Sanctuary Policies: Stories from Victims and Families.”
Republican lawmakers used the hearing, which included testimony from three “angel” mothers, to criticize so-called “sanctuary” policies. That policy protects criminal illegal aliens, who are behind bars, by prohibiting local law enforcement from honoring a deportation detainer from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
In the case of Moralez, who had entered the U.S. illegally as a child, Wilkerson points back to his arrest for domestic violence five months before her son’s murder. He should have been flagged as an illegal alien by authorities and deported, she says, but he was not and her son died because of it, she argues.
After the hearing, Wilkerson told the “Washington Watch” program her reason for testifying was to demonstrate that ordinary Americans are trying to raise a family and instill values in their children.
“And then somebody can come along, that's not legally in the country, and just take them and kill them, and just delete them from our lives,” she said. “It's a trauma like nothing else.”
During the hearing, Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson caused an uproar when he dismissed the topic of illegal immigration as a politically motivated stunt.
“With the sole purpose of stirring up passion and prejudice against immigrants who are people of color,” Johnson said, even though the topic was about illegal immigrants.
Johnson’s accusation whipped up anger among the hearings witness, including Patricia Fox. Her daughter, Carissa, was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident caused by an illegal alien.
"I don't know if anybody has noticed, but I am not white. I wake up brown every day,” Fox told the Democrat.
A second angel mom, Jen Heiling, pushed back after Johnson accused Republicans of arranging their testimony before and after a Democrat-invited witness for “dramatic effect.”
“You can put me in whatever order, in whatever seat. My tragedy is never going to be OK," Heiling told Johnson. "Today's our day.”
Heiling’s son, 18, was killed in a car crash caused by an intoxicated illegal immigrant from Honduras.
“We can't pick a headstone because that makes it too real. But you can sit here and tell us about what kind of hearing this should be," she said.
Back on “Washington Watch,” Wilkerson confessed it feels naïve to pray other families don’t endure her family’s heartache and pain, when Johnson’s comments make it feel little has changed since 2010.
“President Trump has stopped the leak of the border, of the open border policies,” she said. “And it's now time for ICE to clean up the mess that's left behind.”
