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.