GIANNO CALDWELL: Four years after my brother’s murder, I’m marching for justice
Four years ago, I got the call no family should ever receive. My innocent teenage brother, Christian, had been shot and killed on the streets of Chicago. He was just a kid, full of promise, full of life. Gone. This Saturday, I am going back. Not to mourn. To march.
Chicago is the shining example of how soft-on-crime policies devastate families across our nation. It is the epicenter of a political failure so profound and so deliberate that its consequences have spread to cities all across America. Those who have chosen to put virtue signaling ahead of victims have turned one of America's great cities into a graveyard of broken promises. The families paying the price are not the politicians who made those promises. They are the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who have lost not one, but in some cases, multiple loved ones to violent crime.
Are sanctuary city policies destroying these communities? Yes. Is it the elimination of cash bail? Yes. Is it elected officials who have fought harder for criminals than for the public they were elected to serve? Yes. It is all of the above and more.
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Illinois became the first state in the nation to completely eliminate cash bail through the SAFE-T Act, a law that allows judges the discretion to release violent offenders without requiring them to post any money or collateral — simply by signing a form promising to return to court. No money. No bond. No consequence.
The results speak for themselves. Through the first six months of 2026, Chicago recorded 210 homicides, a nearly 6% increase compared to the same period in 2025, with 686 shooting incidents leaving 858 people wounded or killed across the city. These are not statistics. These are people. These are families. These are futures stolen.
Some will point to the fact that nationally, homicide rates fell dramatically in 2025, reaching what researchers called the lowest level since at least 1900. Good. But let's be honest about why. That progress did not come from the policies championed by blue city mayors. It came in spite of them.
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President Donald Trump directed U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta to lead a coordinated crime surge operation across America's most dangerous cities, bringing together 31 federal agencies to take violent criminals off the streets. In Washington, D.C., alone, murders dropped 60%, robberies dropped 50%, and carjackings fell a staggering 70%. The Memphis task force surpassed 4,000 arrests. Nationally, U.S. Marshals arrested over 73,000 fugitives in 2025 alone. Now in 2026, with Chicago already trending back upward, you can see exactly what happens when a city refuses that help. Mayor Brandon Johnson signed executive orders directing Chicago police to withhold cooperation from federal agents, vowing publicly that his city "will not ever cooperate with ICE." Gov. JB Pritzker has sued the federal government rather than work with it. Families are paying that price.
The political class has not only chosen to look away. In some cases, they have openly insulted the families left behind. Just weeks ago, Democratic Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal sat before Angel Families, meaning families of Americans killed by illegal immigrants, and told them: "Unfortunately, this hearing is the fourth time in this committee that we've had a hearing on sanctuary cities. There's many other things that we could be doing." A member of Congress sat in front of grieving mothers and fathers and told them their children's lives were not worth her time. Let that settle in.
Jessica Gorman, whose 18-year-old daughter Sheridan was shot and killed at the Chicago lakefront while walking with friends to see the Northern Lights, responded directly: "Thanks for telling me without telling me that you're here, but you don't want to be, for telling me you don't care." Sheridan was a freshman from Westchester County, New York, with her whole life mapped out in front of her. The man charged with her murder, Jose Medina-Medina, was a Venezuelan national apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol in May 2023 and released into the country under the Biden administration, even after officials flagged him as likely to abscond and noted he had no verifiable address or contact information. He was released due to, in their words, a lack of space. He was later arrested for shoplifting in Chicago and released again before he allegedly took Sheridan's life. Chicago's sanctuary policies made it possible. Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson's leadership made it inevitable.
Maybe if they stopped enabling the policies that create Angel Families, Congresswoman Jayapal wouldn't have as many hearings to complain about. They refuse to stop. So we refuse to be silent.
The victims' families marching with me Saturday know what it means to be failed by a system built by elected officials who put criminals first. We are starting our march at Morgan Park High School, where my brother Christian walked the halls and where, four years later, our family still searches for the justice he deserved. We are extending a direct invitation to Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson: come march with us. Come look these families in the face. Come see the devastation your policies have caused. You have governed from behind podiums and press releases long enough. Come stand in front of the people your decisions have failed.
Chicago is where we start. But this fight is national. This march is for every family in America that has buried a loved one while politicians made excuses. It is for the Angel Families who traveled to Washington over and over, begging lawmakers to act, only to be told there are more important things to discuss. It is for every American family that deserves what too many have been denied: leaders who put their safety first.
When I founded the Caldwell Foundation for Public Safety in Christian's memory, I made a promise that his death would not be in vain. That I would stand with victims, amplify their voices and hold the people in power accountable. This Saturday, that promise takes to the streets. We march for Christian. We march for Sheridan Gorman. We march for every family whose grief was treated as collateral damage by the people who were supposed to protect them.
The Community March Against Violence takes place Saturday, July 25, at 10 a.m. at Morgan Park High School in Chicago. Register here.