Mary Ann Mendoza, an Angel Mom who is the head of the Angel Families group, confronted Democratic senators who support sanctuary cities during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Mendoza told the senators to “imagine” their own children being killed by someone who was in the country illegally and released from prison–but not deported.

Her son, police officer Brandon Mendoza, was killed in 2014 by an illegal immigrant who was drunk while driving the wrong way on a highway in Arizona.

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Mendoza said during her testimony that the liberal senators “will never understand” the pain caused by illegal immigration unless it impacts them directly.

Until one of you who supports sanctuary policies or any elected official shoving these sanctuary policies on us, are directly impacted by illegal alien crime, you will never understand the depth of pain, grief, and hopelessness that they create. [Emphasis added]

…

These policies are not put on the ballot for voter approval. They are put in place without voter approval. And many people have been convinced by politicians and special interest groups that sanctuary policies keep our communities safer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just ask our law enforcement officers and I’ve talked to men and women on the front line from Virginia to Arizona, Texas to Montana, and they know the danger of releasing criminal illegal aliens into our communities and neighborhoods. Americans are being victimized and left behind by the very officials they voted into office and who made an oath to protect and uphold the law. This includes immigration law. [Emphasis added]

…

Every day, Americans are being marginalized as collateral damage by this incredibly dangerous mindset that illegal alien criminals deserve above-the-law protections while they remain illegally present in our country. [Emphasis added]

Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced legislation that would allow victims of illegal immigration crime the ability to sue sanctuary cities. Mendoza supports the bill. During her testimony she mentioned 23-year-old Aaron Hampton who was killed by an illegal immigrant who had been protected by President Barack Obama’s DACA program.

Mendoza said, “In November 2018, Aaron Hampton was shot more than 25 times by a repeat offender criminal illegal alien in Springfield, Missouri. ICE had a detainer on Luis Perez and requested Middlesex County, New Jersey to hold him before deportation proceedings following his arrest for felony crimes that included assault, aggravated assault, and child abuse.”

She continued, “Had the ICE detainer been honored, as every detainer should be, Aaron Hampton would be alive today. Make no mistake, Luis Perez is a repeat offender criminal illegal alien from Mexico who has no right to live in our country. I ask of this committee, would I be shown the same leniency had I broken federal law? Would any state in this union protect me or any other American from being detained, arrested, and prosecuted by the federal government? We all know the answer — a resounding ‘No.’”

Mendoza mentioned several other tragic examples of Americans killed by illegal immigrants who had been released from prison and then protected by sanctuary jurisdictions.

“And quite frankly I’m appalled to be sitting in the U.S. Senate building and actually listening to American elected senators arguing in favor of criminal illegal aliens and forgetting innocent American victims, never fighting for our rights, for our pain and suffering. I’m disappointed and saddened to see what you’ve become. And today, I ask all the members of this committee, think about your loved ones, think about Americans, think about our loss, and think about the fairness under the rule of law.”

About 2,000 Americans are killed each year by illegal immigrants according to an analysis by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL).