The parents of a murdered woman have lashed out at U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem after she relocated a speech in Illinois, so that she could deliver it outside of the victim’s former home.
Community organizer Emma Schafer, 24, was fatally stabbed in her Springfield apartment in July 2023. The suspected killer, Gabriel P Calixto, remains at large.
Secretary Noem had been scheduled to speak on Wednesday in front of the Illinois Governor’s mansion, where outspoken Democrat JB Pritzker resides. Instead, she moved her lectern outside of Schafer’s old residence as she criticized the state’s “sanctuary” status and attempted to use the latter’s tragic story as an example of “migrant crime,” claiming that Calixto had been in the country illegally.
Her actions drew a sharp rebuke from bereaved parents Cathy Schwartz and John Shafer, who attacked Noem in a statement of their own hours later.
“Our daughter Emma radiated love and light everywhere she went and for all people,” the couple said.
“Even as a child, she was a friend to everyone and someone who spoke up for the less fortunate. She dedicated her life – her career and her free time – to causes of social justice and equity. That was just who she was.
“To see her used by Secretary Noem and others to advance a cruel and heartless political agenda is not just deeply painful to us – it is an insult to her memory.
“Noem’s words are in direct conflict with who Emma was as a person. Emma built up community and stood with all members, including immigrants.”
The couple did not attend Noem’s speech, choosing instead to join protesters in demonstrating against her appearance in Springfield, with a video posted to social media showing activists on the city’s streets telling the secretary to leave and a man holding up a sign to passing cars that read: “F*** Fascism.”
Schwartz and Shafer’s statement continued: “No parent should have to experience the loss of a child. But every time her name is brought into these conversations – conversations she would have wanted nothing to do with – we have to relive the pain of her death.
“Secretary Noem, as parents still grieving the loss of a child, we beg you to stop. This is not who she was. This is not helping us. Her memory should live in all the people she touched and the causes that she fought for.
“We ask all of you to remember Emma as she was and to live your life as she did: with courageous empathy and love for all.”
The former South Dakota governor used her address to argue that Illinois’s sanctuary policy had been “absolutely disastrous” and to pay tribute to “angel families” whom she alleged had been the victims of violent crime as a direct consequence of it.
“Now that we’ve given the American people the safest and most secure border in American history, we have to double down at removing dangerous criminals,” she said.
“President Trump has been focused on making sure that we’re going after the worst of the worst.”
Attacking Pritzker personally, Noem said: “This governor has bragged about Illinois being a firewall against President Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda, and it is very clear that he has violating the Constitution of the United States because it is a federal law that the federal government and the president set and enforce immigration policies.”
Speaking later, Pritzker claimed the secretary had had to move her press conference away from his mansion, where banners reading “Due Process for All!” were draped across the gates to oppose the administration’s mass deportation push, to avoid protesters turning out against her.
He dismissed Noem’s appearance as a “publicity stunt” on X and advised her in a statement to “spend less time performing for Fox News and more time protecting the homeland.”
“Unlike Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, Illinois follows the law,” Pritzker said.
“The Trump administration is violating the United States Constitution, denying people due process, and disappearing law-abiding neighbors – including children who are U.S. citizens.
“Yet, they are taking no real action to promote public safety and deport violent criminals within the clear and defined legal process.”
