Jim Steinle and Liz Sullivan, the parents of Kate Steinle urged the passage of Kate’s Law during an interview on Monday’s “O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel.
In the first part of the interview, Steinle and Sullivan remembered their daughter.
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Kate’s mother said that “she was not only beautiful, but a very soulful person. Just a lot of depth, a lot of spirituality, always, from a young edge. and I think that’s what’s helping to give us the strength that we’ve conjured up here in this terrible, terrible situation. I feel her strength still with me.” And both parents remembered how close they were to their daughter.
Kate’s father stated that Kate met them and one of their friends while they were visiting the city, and that they decided to head to the pier to enjoy the view of San Francisco and reflect on the day. Unfortunately, on their way back, they heard a gunshot “Kate went down, and the rest, we all know what happened then.” He added that Kate said “help me, dad” before she passed away. He also praised the “kind souls” who offered Kate assistance before paramedics showed up and said he never saw the shooter.
Kate’s mother talked about the outpouring of support the family has received, saying “just the food, the cards, the offers for help, you know, the people that have come from very far to come and give us condolences, her second grade teacher came from Auburn, you know it has just been absolutely unbelievable how many lives she touched. And the cards, the flowers, the service, the memorial. Was — I mean, I just was taken away with the amount of people and everything. It was overwhelming. … You can’t prepare for anything like this, but it was astonishing, and it is astonishing. And we are hoping to carry this forward. We’re hoping for some good to come out of all of this.” Jim added that the support the family has received has given them “more than comfort.” And that that the family’s faith kept them strong, but things would have been tougher without the worldwide outpouring of support they received.
The second part of the interview centered on Kate’s Law, or the Establishing Mandatory Minimums for Illegal Reentry Act. Kate’s father said, “Well, I support Kate’s Law, because it would be a legacy in her name, and her death would not go unnoticed. We’re an apolitical family. We keep up with politics, because we’re citizens of the United States. And, you know, we feel the federal, state, and cities, their laws are here to protect us, but we feel that this particular set of circumstances, and the people involved, the different agencies let us down. And we just — we’re just a little tired of the finger-pointing and just want to see some action, and if Kate’s Law saves one person, then it’s all for good.” He did state that they want to “be involved in the language of the law.”
Her mother added, “I just want it to be a good, solid law that won’t have holes in it. And I’m sure there will be a lot of posturing back and forth, I had no idea how many people have been killed by illegal aliens. And we’ve had quite a few people reach out to us, and we had no idea it was an issue, but something definitely needs to be done.”
The interview concluded with the parents accepting O’Reilly’s offer to come to DC in September after Congress comes back from vacation to meet with members of Congress.
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