Who Stands for Lizbeth Medina?
Lizbeth Medina was 16, a cheerleader at Edna High School in Texas. In December 2023 she was supposed to perform in her town’s Christmas parade, but she never showed up. Her mother, Jacqueline, went home to look for her and found her in the bathtub. Lizbeth had been stabbed 25 times, as President Trump described it in his State of the Union address. She was Jacqueline’s only child.
Her killer, Rafael Romero, was in this country unlawfully. According to DHS, he had an expired visa and was subject to an ICE detainer. In September 2025 he pleaded guilty and received two life sentences. Nothing brings Lizbeth back, but her family was owed that much.
In February, Jacqueline Medina sat in the House gallery. The president told Congress her daughter’s story is why we are deporting criminal illegal aliens in record numbers. Then he said: “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” He asked every member of Congress who agreed to stand. Republicans stood. Democrats stayed seated. Kelly Morrison was one of them.
That is not a hard sentence to stand for. It’s the oldest job government has. Lizbeth Medina is one of many citizens who died because that duty wasn’t met, and a congresswoman who stays in her seat when it’s read aloud is telling you where her priorities are.
I’m a small business owner. I’ve talked with people who came here illegally, and what they tell me isn’t what you hear on cable news. They aren’t afraid of ICE. They’re afraid of the cartels. They paid smugglers to get across, and they say every crossing costs money. If you don’t pay, you pay another way. Once you pay, the path to the Twin Cities, or anywhere else in the country, is open. Most of them arrived with nothing, so they work to pay off the debt. That is a system built on exploitation, and an unsecured border feeds it.
Congresswoman Morrison says “we cannot give one more penny to ICE,” and she says “ICE out of Minnesota.” ICE agents do one of the toughest jobs in the country, and she wants them off our streets.
Look at where else her attention goes. Morrison made over a hundred stock trades while in Congress, filed some of those disclosures late in violation of the STOCK Act, and bought into a defense technology company shortly after the U.S. entered the Iran conflict. She only announced she would divest once the story broke. She voted against the Stop Insider Trading Act. Voters can decide what that says about whose interests come first.
She’s an OB-GYN, someone who has spent a career around the start of life. You would expect that to carry over to a mother who lost her only child, and to a family still waiting for their country to put them first.
I believe in secure borders and in enforcing the laws already on the books. The angel moms deserve a Congress that stands for their children without hesitation. When I’m in Washington, I will stand.
— Tyler Bass, Republican candidate for Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District
