CHICAGO — The man accused of fatally shooting Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman has pleaded not guilty to all charges, weeks after the killing became a lightning rod in the polarizing discourse over immigration policy.

José Medina, 26, entered a not guilty plea for all 18 felony counts charged against him in an arraignment hearing at Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Wednesday, court records show. Medina is charged with murder and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon, among other felonies.

Prosecutors have alleged that Medina, a Venezuelan national, shot and killed Gorman while she took in the skyline with friends on a pier around Tobey Prinz Beach Park in Rogers Park in the early morning hours of March 19.

Gorman’s death quickly became a flash point in the immigration debate, as national and local conservative politicians placed blame on the state’s sanctuary laws.

The tragedy made international news when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it had lodged a detainer request asking Illinois officials not to release Medina, who — according to the agency — was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on May 9, 2023, and “released into the country” under the administration of President Joe Biden.

But Medina’s public defender, Julie Koehler, has stated that after he turned himself in to authorities in Texas in 2023, Medina was held in a detention center and asked to be returned to Colombia, where he had been living. Instead, Koehler said, he was “placed on a bus and sent to Chicago.”

About a week after the slaying, a Cook County judge ordered Medina detained as he awaits trial.

Gorman’s family, who didn’t immediately return a request for comment through their lawyer on Wednesday, have called for accountability and justice.

“There can be no gaps, no shortcuts, and no second chances that put others at risk,” the family previously stated.

Loved ones have remembered Gorman as kind, compassionate and committed to her faith.

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