Staff Reports
Angel Mom Agnes Gibboney stepped forward this spring to publicly praise Immigration and Customs Enforcement, former ICE acting director Tom Homan, and the newly reestablished Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office for finally giving Angel Families a voice in Washington. Her gratitude is a necessary reminder that real Americans—mothers and fathers who lost loved ones—deserve to be heard and helped by the federal government.
Gibboney’s story is heartbreakingly simple and painfully familiar: her son Ronald da Silva was murdered in El Monte, California, in 2002 by a gang-affiliated illegal alien, a loss that has haunted her for decades and turned her into one of the strongest advocates against open-border policies. She has spent years fighting to keep her son’s killer off the streets and to push for accountability from elected officials who too often look the other way.
Conservatives should applaud the officials who actually do the hard work of enforcement; when ICE and leaders like Tom Homan use the tools of the law to deport dangerous criminals, they are protecting communities and honoring victims. Sanctuary-state resistance and soft-on-crime politics only embolden the cartels and criminal networks that prey on Americans, and Angel Moms like Gibboney know the human cost of those failed policies.
Reopening the VOICE office was more than symbolism; it restores a federal lifeline that provides counseling, case tracking, and a seat at the table for families who have been permanently separated by violent crime committed by those unlawfully in our country. It was long past time for the federal government to stop sidelining victims while bending over backward to protect illegal entrants; this relaunch corrects a moral wrong and signals that enforcement and compassion for victims can and must coexist.
Lawmakers are finally responding with concrete proposals to back Angel Families, including bills that would ensure survivors receive compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and funeral costs and would codify the VOICE office so it cannot be casually shuttered. Conservatives should make these reforms a litmus test for politicians who claim to care about law, order, and victims’ rights—words mean nothing without action.
Every hardworking American who believes in justice should stand with Agnes Gibboney and the Angel Families demanding secure borders, accountable enforcement, and real support for victims. Elect officials who will back ICE when they enforce the law, who will back victims instead of ideology, and who will never forget the human faces behind the statistics. America can be both a generous nation and a lawful nation, and honoring Angel Families is the first step in proving we remember which is which.
