Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) ignited outrage during a House Judiciary Committee markup when she referred to Kayla Hamilton — a 20-year-old autistic woman raped and murdered by an MS-13 gang member who entered the country as an unaccompanied minor — as a “random dead person.”

🚨 DISGUSTING BEHAVIOR: Rep. Jasmine Crockett just called Kayla Hamilton, a young girl murdered by an illegal alien, a “random dead person.” pic.twitter.com/pSqBF0RAc5

— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) September 10, 2025

 

Jasmine Crockett just called Kayla Hamilton who was m*rdered by an illegal a “random dead person”

No words.

This is absolutely sickening. https://t.co/rIdkyRrbG3 pic.twitter.com/p5UV7ha2gK

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 10, 2025

The committee was debating the Kayla Hamilton Act, legislation introduced by Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) that would require background checks on Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) before releasing them into U.S. communities. The bill is named in honor of Hamilton, who was brutally murdered in 2022 by Walter Javier Martinez, a 17-year-old illegal immigrant with known gang ties who had been placed in the U.S. without vetting.

Crockett, rather than focusing on the substance of the bill, lashed out at Republicans, accusing them of exploiting tragedies. “Stop just throwing a random dead person’s name on something for your own political expediency,” she said, in reference to Hamilton. Crockett didn’t stop there — she also accused the GOP of ignoring victims like those tied to Jeffrey Epstein and claimed Republicans only use tragic deaths when politically convenient.

Rep. Fry fired back, calling Crockett’s comments “disgusting rhetoric” and “shameful behavior.”

“Let me be clear: Kayla Hamilton was not just a random person,” Fry told Fox Digital. “She was a young woman with a family and a future.”

“Sadly, this is what we’ve come to expect from Democrats, who will take any opportunity to downplay the tragedy of Americans killed by criminal illegal aliens,” Fry continued. “I expect Mrs. Crockett to issue a full, public apology to Kayla’s family and to every American who has suffered because of her party’s reckless, open-borders agenda.”

Kayla’s mother, Tammy Nobles, voiced support for the bill, stating clearly: “The Kayla Hamilton Act is necessary to ensure background checks of unaccompanied alien children occur before they are released. If that had happened in the case of Kayla’s murderer, authorities would have known he was an MS-13 gang member.”

Martinez, who was sentenced to 70 years in prison, had a criminal history in El Salvador and MS-13 tattoos — details the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) failed to uncover or ignored before releasing him into the country. Later, he reportedly confessed to multiple additional murders and rapes.

The Kayla Hamilton Act aims to close these loopholes by mandating:

Background checks of UACs aged 12+ via their home countries. Screening for gang tattoos. Housing gang-affiliated minors in secure facilities. Banning illegal immigrants from sponsoring UACs. Full sharing of background data on sponsors with DHS.

President Donald Trump announced on Friday morning that the National Guard will be deployed to crime-ridden Memphis, a Democrat-run city in deep-red Tennessee.

“We’re going to Memphis. I’m just announcing that now,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” during an interview in the studio. “National Guard and anybody else we need, and by the way, we’re bringing the military too if we need it.”

Trump has recently suggested that multiple cities — such as Chicago, Baltimore, and New Orleans — could be next on his list for a federal intervention to combat violent crime. His decision to deploy troops to Memphis means that the president will be working with a friendly state government. Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee said on Wednesday that he is collaborating with the Trump administration on a plan to address crime in Memphis.

“For months, I have been in constant communication with the Trump Administration to develop a strategic plan to combat crime in Memphis, leveraging the full extent of both federal and state resources,” Lee said. “This multi-phased approach includes Operation Viper — an ongoing FBI mission with a dedicated task force of federal, state, and local law enforcement that has already made hundreds of arrests targeting the most violent offenders. Additionally, I have activated a new Tennessee Highway Patrol surge to support the Memphis Police Department that will include 50 more troopers, bringing our THP presence in Shelby County to record levels.”

Recently released FBI data on violent crime rates in 2024 showed that Memphis is the most violent city in the United States, NBC’s Nashville affiliate, WSMV 4, reported last week. Last year, Memphis saw 2,501 instances of violent crime for every 100,000 people. The violent crime rate in Memphis was far higher than that of other most violent cities in America. The next highest on the list was Oakland, California, with 1,925 violent crimes reported for every 100,000 people, and Detroit was No. 3 with 1,781 violent crimes per 100,000 people.

Trump has praised the work of the National Guard and federal law enforcement agents in Washington, D.C., after he sent them into the nation’s capital and directed the Metropolitan Police Department to crack down on violent crime. The president said he wants to address violent crime in cities across the United States.

“Almost every city that’s in trouble is run by Democrats,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Friday morning. “Cashless bail is a disaster.”

Trump’s recent moves to deploy the National Guard to D.C. and Los Angeles have been blasted by Democrats, who claim that the president’s efforts to address violent crime in the U.S. are a power grab. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Trump broke the law when he deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles during violent anti-ICE protests in June.