It has been almost one year since Joe Abraham learned an illegal alien was responsible for his daughter’s tragic death. The father says he is still waiting to hear from Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker.  

“President [Donald] Trump shook my hand, looked me in the eye, said ‘It’s a mess, and we’re going to clean it up,’” the father said, referring to America’s border and immigration policies. “I’m still waiting for anything from Governor Pritzker,” Abraham added.  

On Jan. 19, firemen arrived at the scene of the car crash in Illinois and “pried open like a tuna can” the Honda Civic Katie Abraham was riding in and pulled the 20-year-old’s dead body from the car.  

Katie Abraham and four other women were traveling to visit friends at the University of Illinois and were waiting at a stoplight when “they were rammed from the back at 80 miles an hour by an illegal alien” who had previously been deported and was driving drunk, Joe Abraham explained.  

The illegal alien fled the scene of the accident and “didn’t call 911, he didn’t stick around to tell the first responders what happened, to help out in any way,” the father told press at an event on Capitol Hill Friday honoring parents who have lost children due to open border policies and illegal immigration.  

Abraham’s daughter was killed one day before Trump took the oath of office a second time to become the 47th U.S. president. Two days after Trump returned to office, authorities apprehended Julio Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national who was using a false Mexican identity. The illegal alien has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for the death of Katie Abraham and Chloe Polzin, who was also in the vehicle.  

Katie Abraham “made everyone feel welcome,” her father told The Daily Signal. “She was one of these kids that would sense someone is not fitting in as well and would draw them in and help them out,” he said.  

Joe Abraham joked that he thinks his daughter, who was a swimmer and a water polo player, was “more comfortable in the water than she was outside of it.”  

In addition to her parents, Katie Abraham left behind an older brother and sister.  

Joe Abraham blames the border and immigration policies of the Biden administration and Illinois’ sanctuary state policies for his daughter’s death. “Sanctuary” states and cities restrict local or state law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“Outside of the actual victim and the perpetrator, there are lives that are affected so severely for the rest of their lives, and I think [Pritzker] misses that,” the father said.  

“Either [Pritzker] misses that or he is built that into his equation of his extreme sanctuary policies, where he realizes that part of that calculus is that people will die, and he’s OK with that because he needs warm bodies in the state, because we’re losing so many citizens leaving our mismanaged state,” Abraham added.  

In March, the Illinois Policy Institute reported that the state “is pushing more of its own residents to other places in the country than virtually any other state, ranking 48th in losses because of moves to other states.” Meanwhile, the state has experienced a large influx of foreigners in recent years.  

Despite his frustration with his governor, Abraham says he would still meet with Pritzker if he was given the opportunity.  

“I would still sit down with him right now. I would want to hear why my daughter Katie had to die in the fashion she died. I just want to understand why that was exactly,” the father said. â€œAnd then, why so much of an indifference on his part? â€¦ Why is she considered a stat or collateral damage to his extreme policy?”  

The governor’s office did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.  

Joe Abraham relayed his story to the press on Capitol Hill Friday at an event announcing a new bill that, if passed, would authorize the creation of a privately funded national memorial in the District of Columbia honoring the lives of U.S. citizens and legal residents who lost their lives due to illegal aliens being present in the U.S., or the trafficking of fentanyl or other deadly drugs across the U.S. southern border.  

About a dozen parents shared their stories of loss during the press conference held in support of the memorial.  

Nicole Gray was only 19 when she died from fentanyl poisoning on April 23, 2024. Jane Gray, Nicole’s mother, says she is troubled by just how easy it was for her daughter to access the deadly drug.  

“Nicole wasn’t a bad person,” Jane Gray told The Daily Signal. “She had a lot of pain that she was trying to run from. My last conversation with her when I saw her was, ‘Mom, I don’t want to die, and I don’t want to be a bad daughter,’ and I think that’s very true. But she got a hold of so much fentanyl, and it was so easy to access for her, and she lost her life.” 

If passed, the American Border Story Memorial Act will establish a memorial that â€œgives the victim’s family, and especially the â€˜Angels Family’ and â€˜Angel Moms’ who have been ignored for years,’ the national recognition they deserve,” Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., who introduced the bill, said.  

The memorial, according to Hamadeh, “is going to stand as a lasting reminder of the human cost of failed border enforcement and the need for accountability at the highest levels of government.” 

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