One year ago, on January 19, 2025, Katie Abraham and her friend Chloe Polzin were killed in Urbana, Illinois, by an illegal alien drunk driver when he plowed into their stopped car going nearly 80 miles per hour.
Three other girls in the car were injured. The illegal alien fled and nearly made it to the Mexican border before he was captured in Dallas, Texas.
Katie’s father, Joe Abraham, wants answers. The shock, sadness, and hurt of losing his daughter have been compounded by the lack of answers from elected officials about how the killer, Julio Cucul-Bol, was allowed to roam free in the state.
Acknowledgment, Answers, and Accountability
Fortunately, Joe Abraham has not been intimidated by the system, the politicians, or friends and neighbors, some of whom think his pursuit of justice borders on being anti-immigrant.
Over the last year, Joe has written numerous opinion articles and traveled to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress about the harms of sanctuary state laws. In the process, the Democrat politicians who ignore federal immigration laws, provoke hostility to the enforcement of such, and use our tax money to fund illegals have shown their true colors.
To date, Governor Pritzker has not acknowledged the killing of Katie Abraham. His callousness was observed up close by Joe when he traveled to D.C. A recent FOX News article noted:
Abraham, who has blamed his daughter’s death on Pritzker’s sanctuary policies, said he was in the same room as Pritzker during a congressional hearing in 2025, but the governor didn’t bother to acknowledge him.
“I was so naïve,” Abraham said. “He knew I was in the room; he knew who I was, there were pictures and everything else. And I was excited to think, ‘Hey, I’m going to have a conversation with the governor at least to give him my perspective,’” Abraham continued. “I was hoping to hear something like, ‘Hey, Joe, look, things got out of control, he slipped through the cracks, hang with us, we’ve got some things we’re going to fix,’ or something along those lines that I was going to hear … but I was just completely ignored.”
Pritzker completely ignored him. So did his state senator, Laura Fine, who is now running for Congress in the 9th Congressional District to replace Jan Schakowsky – more on Fine later.
But Pritzker and his comrades haven’t ignored the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis. In fact, they have elevated her death to near martyrdom for their cause. Pritzker wrote this on X after Good was shot by ICE when she gunned her car toward an agent:
The people of this nation are now living in constant fear of what the Trump Administration may do next.
DHS and ICE are losing credibility as their lies and lawlessness are creating chaos and tragedies.
Shame on those using these moments to incite terror.
In a subsequent post that same day, Pritzker wrote:
For months, Trump’s DHS has wreaked lawless havoc in our neighborhoods. Tear gassing infants, families, and police. Firing their weapons at peaceful citizens. Killing innocent people.
It’s brutal, unconstitutional, and out of control.
It must stop. Kristi Noem must go. Now.
Meanwhile, Chicago Democrat Mayor Brandon Johnson said: “We stand in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis and with all of those across the country whose lives have been torn apart due to reckless actions by Trump’s lawless, racist force.”
They said nothing about Katie Abraham. Wouldn’t even speak her name.
The Minneapolis protesters aren’t just exercising their First Amendment right; they are impeding law enforcement and are now celebrated and encouraged to keep the protests going by elected Democrats. The chaos in Minneapolis borders on insurrection, with ICE agents – and citizen journalists and regular citizens who support ICE – being followed and harassed and in some cases beaten.
Back to Joe and his quest for justice.
Joe Abraham noted in his op-ed, An illegal immigrant killed my daughter — leftists march for Renee, not for Katie:
As I read and watched the coverage coming out of Minneapolis about the tragic shooting of a woman allegedly attempting to run over a federal agent with her vehicle, two things immediately came to me.
First, how demonstrators were being stoked, inflamed and used by politicians for self-serving purposes. Second — and far more personal — where was the outrage when my innocent 20-year-old daughter, Katie Abraham, was killed by an illegal alien shielded and protected by Illinois’ sanctuary policies?
It also struck me how the same media figures, politicians and commentators now expressing outrage over the Minneapolis shooting have had nothing to say about Katie. Nothing.
No acknowledgement of Katie’s death and No Accountability.
I’ve gotten to know Joe Abraham over the last year, and he shared the emails he sent to his state senator, Laura Fine, in which he requested information on how much support and protection illegals receive in Illinois.
In one email, Joe asked the questions that every other Illinoisan should want answers to. I have abbreviated that email here:
In light of information disclosed during Julio Cucul-Bol’s federal arraignment on Tuesday, November 25th, I am requesting clarification on the following issues, in addition to the unanswered questions I submitted previously. These matters raise serious concerns regarding state policy, public safety, and oversight procedures:
1. Communicable Disease Screening and Management
It was stated in court that Mr. Cucul-Bol is currently receiving treatment from IDOC for an incurable communicable disease (HIV).
2. Language, Assimilation, and Integration Support
We learned that he speaks no English and has been in Illinois for several years. What programs or resources were intended to assist him with language acquisition, cultural integration, or community orientation under existing sanctuary or migrant-assistance policies?
3. Education and Workforce Development
Through an interpreter, Mr. Cucul-Bol stated he had no formal education in any language. What procedures exist to evaluate educational background when individuals arrive in the state? Was he ever referred to adult-education programs, literacy programs, or job-training services?
4. Illinois Driver’s License Issuance
Mr. Cucul-Bol indicated that he cannot read or write in any language and is essentially illiterate, yet he possessed an Illinois driver’s license.
How was he able to pass the written portion of the Illinois driver’s test under these circumstances? I appreciate your prompt and thorough responses to these questions, as well as to the earlier inquiries that remain unaddressed. These issues directly affect public safety, transparent governance, and the integrity of state policies.
Thank you in advance,
Joe Abraham (Katie Abraham father)
To date, Fine has not answered any of Joe’s reasonable questions.
Illinois will spend nearly $41 million dollars on just one specific program called “Immigrant Integration.” At the height of Biden’s open border policy, the amount was over $93 million.
Another state program is Welcoming Centers. The GATA database says this about Welcoming Centers:
The Illinois Welcoming Centers Program (IWC) has four fundamental components: Comprehensive Case Management, Community Education, Community Alliances, and Co-location. The goals of the Illinois Welcoming Center Program are to strengthen the overall human service delivery system for immigrants, refugees, asylees, humanitarian parolees, and LEP populations, and to build the capacity of organizations serving immigrant, asylee, and refugee communities.
The state allocation to Welcoming Centers has ballooned under Governor Pritzker. In FY19, the budget prior to Pritzker, the state spent $1,499,000 on the program. For FY26, the budget calls for spending $25,000,000, a 16-fold increase in just seven years.
All this money for assimilation, and yet many illegals refuse to understand American founding principles, adopt American customs, and abide by American laws. They are more than happy to take taxpayers’ support, however.
More alarmingly, this money is going to numerous activist NGOs that are behind the anti-Trump, anti-ICE protests. One of the biggest NGOs that receives funding for immigrant services is the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. This year, they are set to receive over $42 million from Illinois taxpayers. This chart is from the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) database.
Here’s a recent Facebook post for ICIRR
Joe Abraham’s questions above are all valid. What assimilation services was her killer receiving? What monetary support was he getting from the state that allowed him to live in Illinois for years? We have citizens in our state unable to afford to purchase a vehicle and yet here is an illegal with personal transportation. Who was employing him?
At the time of his arrest, the killer was also charged with “possessing a false permanent resident card, possessing a false Social Security card, false use of a passport, and making a false statement on a bank application.”
That’s not assimilation, that’s hiding from the law. And your tax dollars were likely helping him do so.
More on Laura Fine. Instead of answering Joe’s questions, in completely nonsensical fashion, Fine connected Joe to a Republican state senator to answer them instead. It makes no sense. The Democrats run everything in Springfield. Fine could have asserted her authority and gotten answers from the administration, but she didn’t.
Joe has kept on it and confronted her about not honoring Katie’s death by reassessing sanctuary policies. In return, Laura Fine offered to file a resolution honoring Katie. It was disingenuous, and Joe knew that.
Joe’s very respectful response to Fine was the following:
Thank you for reaching out and for the offer to honor my daughter, Katie Abraham, on the floor of the Illinois Senate.
While I appreciate the gesture, I do not believe the timing is right for such an honor, and I must respectfully decline at this time.
Katie was killed on January 19, 2025, in the streets of Urbana by a drunk-driving illegal alien. To date, there has been no meaningful acknowledgment by Illinois legislators or our Governor of the sanctuary policies that created the environment allowing this tragedy to occur. There has also been troubling silence around the role of drunk driving in Katie’s death and the lack of sufficient deterrence and consequences when someone chooses to drive intoxicated and kills another person.
Honoring Katie without addressing these underlying policy failures would feel premature and incomplete. This cannot simply be treated as a traffic incident. Illinois needs stronger deterrence and upgraded consequences for drunk driving that results in death, and it must seriously reexamine the radical and extreme sanctuary policies that put communities at risk.
I am open—and committed—to working with you and others on meaningful policy changes in these two critical areas of public safety. That, more than a symbolic gesture, would be a way to truly honor Katie’s life and help ensure fewer families experience the devastation that ours lives with every day.
We all deserve better from our state.
I look forward to hearing from you on these topics.
And then this happened, proving that indeed Laura Fine is a soulless, political opportunist who couldn’t care less about the victims of crimes by illegal immigrants, including the deaths of Megan Bos, Michael and Gail Clayton, and Jeanie Brady, just to name a few.
The Center Square reported on new legislation Fine filed that would ban the hiring of any ICE officer for any law enforcement position in the state of Illinois.
A newly introduced bill that would bar former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from working in state and local law enforcement in Illinois is sparking intense debate, with supporters calling it a necessary accountability measure and critics warning it could worsen police shortages and undermine public safety.
State Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, who is also running for Congress, announced the legislation in a social media video this week, saying it was prompted by recent immigration enforcement actions she described as violent and intimidating.
This isn’t an original thought. Fine is following other radical Dems who have filed similar bills in other states.
I shared this information with Joe. He immediately wrote to Fine and had this to say:
Senator Fine,
I am writing in response to the legislation you have just introduced to bar ICE agents from ever serving in local law enforcement roles in Illinois.
Knowing that our daughter, Katie, was killed by an illegal alien drunk drive, I am disgusted that you are choosing to double down yet again on sanctuary policies rather than confront their consequences. This bill does exactly that. It sends a clear message that ideology matters more than public safety and more than the lives already lost.
Your proposal dishonors Katie and every Illinois victim of crimes committed as a result of illegal immigration. It also casts your earlier offer to honor Katie on the Senate floor—an offer I declined—in a deeply troubling light. In hindsight, that gesture feels disingenuous, especially given your continued refusal to engage with the serious questions I have sent you seeking to understand your perspective on sanctuary policies.
Empathy is not expressed through symbolic and political self-interest offers while advancing legislation that worsens the very conditions that led to a child’s death. True empathy requires honesty, accountability, and a willingness to listen. Your actions suggest you were never serious about any of those.
We deserved answers. We still do.
Joe Abraham
Father of Katie Abraham
Katie Abraham died because our government failed to protect her. Renee Good died because he failed to obey lawful orders from uniformed law enforcement. Both deaths were preventable. But the Democrats who run this state only care about the Minnesota woman’s death and not their own constituent.
Joe Abraham says he wasn’t really political. He’s been forced to be so. He asks us to put ourselves in Katie’s shoes. She wasn’t doing anything wrong and yet was murdered by someone who should never have been in the country.
Honor Katie by speaking up and pushing back against these radical sanctuary policies. And call for a defunding of all these NGO pro-immigrant organizations. The money above, by the way, pales in comparison to the money we spend on educating illegal immigrant children at the elementary, secondary, and university levels.
Jeanne Ives is the host of Breakthrough with Jeanne Ives. A West Point grad, Jeanne’s time in city and state political office was known for conservative leadership with solid commitment to taxpayers’ bottom line.