Angel dad rebukes Democratic lawmakers over sanctuary policies after daughter killed by twice-deported felon
Grieving angel dad Anatoly Varfolomeev issued a rebuke of Democratic lawmakers Wednesday, calling for an end to sanctuary policies after his daughter was killed in a 2021 crash involving a twice-deported felon.
"It is outrageous," Varfolomeev told "Fox & Friends," reacting to comments from Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Summer Lee, D-Pa., who appeared to suggest that a recent hearing on the matter was focused on political messaging rather than real solutions.
"I don't believe what they say because they say only part of the story that they were presenting one part, not the whole story," he added. "To me, they [lawmakers] should have agreed a long time ago on a united sort of action on how to proceed and to make Americans safer."
Anatoly Varfolomeev testifies on Capitol Hill, speaking of his late 19-year-old daughter Anya on Sept. 15. (Fox & Friends/Screengrab)
Varfolomeev, whose 19-year-old daughter Anya was killed in a crash alongside her childhood friend, described himself as "angry" and "grieving" while testifying on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
Speaking to lawmakers, he lamented that it took three years to learn more about the man responsible for his daughter’s death in what he called "sanctuary California."
Jayapal insisted that the hearing should be aimed at "real solutions that fix an immigration system that has not been modernized to meet the needs of our country in over 30 years."
Lee, meanwhile, accused select corporations and fearmongering politicians of benefiting from mass immigration enforcement.
Anya Varfolomeeva and Nicholay Osokin were killed in an Orange County, Calif., car crash in 2021. (Courtesy of the Varfolomeev and Osokin families)
Varfolomeev said his family eventually learned that the driver, Oscar Eduardo Ortega Anguiano, was an illegal immigrant and repeat offender who had previously served time in prison, had been deported in 2016 and 2021, and did not have a valid California driver’s license.
He was driving under the influence at the time of the incident.
He told Fox News he had contacted state officials seeking answers, but received no response.
"None..." Varfolomeev said when asked whether anyone in the state had reached out to his family, adding, "There was nothing, no response."
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"Fox & Friends" contacted California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office, seeking a statement, but did not hear back.
The grieving father also pushed back against any suggestion from the lawmakers that "immigrants" and "illegal immigrants" are the same, noting that he and his family came to the United States legally and that Anya was born after they became citizens.
"She was a regular American girl that was killed," he said.
"And it's absolutely their responsibility... California politicians and [the] Biden administration."
Taylor Penley is an associate editor for Fox News Digital and contributor to FOX Business and Fox Nation who covers media, culture and Flash
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