Two mothers who lost their sons and another whose daughter remains permanently injured will testify before Congress on Thursday about how these tragedies—each involving illegal aliens—could have been prevented through stricter enforcement of immigration law.
This forum could be uncomfortable for House Democrats who oppose enforcing immigration laws, said Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, which is holding the hearing.
“People keep arguing the legal loopholes and technicalities. I want members of this committee who don’t believe in enforcement to look these mothers in the eyes,” Van Drew told The Daily Signal. “We are not going to have lawyers, not analysts, but real people.”
Van Drew said illegal immigrants charged or convicted of serious crimes should be returned to their country of origin. Instead, many blue cities and states refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I hope that those colleagues on the other side of the aisle who don’t believe in detention or deportation of criminal illegal aliens—people who have been indicted or convicted of major crimes like drug distribution or rape—will see the toll of sanctuary policies,” Van Drew said.
Van Drew pointed to Minnesota and California as states with some of the worst sanctuary policies. He also included his own state of New Jersey, which bars state and local law enforcement from assisting ICE.
Jen Heiling—the mother of Brady Heiling, who was killed last July at age 19—is set to testify to the panel.
Last July in Wisconsin, an illegal alien from Honduras was charged with two felony counts—vehicular homicide and impaired driving—after she allegedly struck a vehicle, killing 18-year-old Hallie Helgeson and severely injuring Heiling, who died from his injuries days later, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Also scheduled to testify is Patricia Fox, the mother of Carissa Aspnes, who was severely brain-damaged at age 22 in March 2025.
Aspnes was riding on the back of a friend’s motorcycle, wearing a helmet and protective gear, when a car driven by an illegal alien from Venezuela crossed multiple lanes and struck the motorcycle, causing her brain damage, CBS News reported. The driver pleaded guilty and was deported last month.
Also scheduled to testify to the House panel is Laura Wilkerson, the mother of Joshua Wilkerson, who was tortured and murdered in 2010 by an illegal alien who overstayed his visa for eight years.
Wilkerson, 18, was from Pearland, Texas, and was killed by a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from Belize, who admitted to beating him to death, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Van Drew said he is hopeful the hearing will help change the focus from the plight of illegal aliens to the victims of crime.
Most members of Congress won’t experience the pain of losing a child, Van Drew said. But he said needless deaths are occurring because illegal aliens have often been arrested and released.
“We only have three witnesses. We could have 30, or 300, or 3,000,” Van Drew said. “I don’t look forward to this hearing. Sometimes members of Congress, or others, will tell parents who lost a child, ‘I know how you feel.’ No, you don’t. I pray to God you never do.”
He noted continuous news coverage of ICE, particularly after two fatal shootings in Minnesota earlier this year, as an example of excessive criticism of the agency.
“Cut it out and stop it,” he said of the anti-ICE criticism. “I want body cams for ICE agents—I’m good with that. But they should keep their masks because they and their families are being targeted. They should have a badge ID. There should be more training for how to handle sensitive areas like churches. But the basic fact is they are catching criminals. How can you say we don’t need that?”
Deadly confrontations have occurred in sanctuary jurisdictions, Van Drew noted.
“Shootings are happening in blue cities and blue states that won’t allow their local law enforcement to work with ICE,” he said. “Nobody was killed in red states. ICE is not trained in crowd control.”
