WATCH: Heartbreaking exchange between Sen. Ted Cruz and father of young woman killed by illegal alien

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College sophomore Katie Abraham of Glenview, Illinois, was only 20 years old when her life was horrifically cut short on January 19, 2025, as a drunk illegal alien from Guatemala crashed into the rear end of her vehicle at 78mph, then fled the scene.

Also killed in the deadly hit-and-run crash was Abraham’s friend, 21-year-old Chloe Polzin of Deerfield. Three others in the vehicle were injured.

Three days later, the illegal alien driver was found riding a bus headed to Mexico. He first presented documents claiming he was a citizen of Mexico, but police later learned his true identity: Julio Cucul-Bol, a 29-year-old citizen of Guatemala. Boll had reportedly gone to three bars before the crash. In October, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Bol had reportedly been deported from the United States at least once, in 2016, but it is unclear when he returned.

Katie Abraham’s father, Joe Abraham, refuses to let her memory die, and continues to speak out against sanctuary policies that protects criminal illegal aliens.

On Tuesday, Joe Abraham published an op-ed in Fox News, reacting to the news that yet another young American woman has been murdered at the hands of an illegal alien. He was referring to 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, who was shot in the head and killed by an illegal alien from Venezuela in Chicago just last week.

“Once again, we are confronted with the possibility that this tragedy, like the one that took my daughter, might have been prevented,” he wrote, adding, “How many times does something have to happen before we stop calling it rare?”

“After my daughter Katie was killed, I spoke out because I believed what happened to her was not just a tragedy, but a warning. I said that if nothing changed, it would happen again. Now another family is living that same nightmare. This is not rare or random. It is the result of policies that ignore accountability and allow preventable harm,” Abraham wrote.

On Wednesday, Abraham testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. The hearing was titled “Protecting American Citizenship II: Federalism, Sanctuary Cities, and the Rule of Law.”

During the hearing, Abraham had a heartbreaking exchange with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), and blasted his own senator, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) for not even acknowledging his loss.

WATCH the exchange in the video below:

Abraham also lambasted Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker, who literally tried to blame President Donald Trump after the illegal alien allegedly shot and killed Sheridan Gorman last week. He wrote:

.@GovPritzker, you cannot blame the federal government for your failures. You’ve chosen to limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and advance sanctuary policies, but you haven’t put equally strong safeguards in place to protect your own citizens and uphold public safety. You favor illegal immigrants and provide special privileges and consideration which citizens are not entitled to.

You cannot have it both ways. You don’t get to deflect blame when the consequences surface.

If you choose to sideline federal frameworks, the responsibility doesn’t disappear, it shifts squarely onto your shoulders. That means owning the outcomes, not pointing fingers when things go wrong. Right now, what’s missing isn’t just policy clarity, it’s accountability.

Leadership isn’t about ideology; it’s about responsibility. If your policies create gaps, you answer for those gaps. If your approach introduces risk, you confront it directly. Silence, deflection, and blame-shifting aren’t leadership, they’re avoidance.

So you’re either the governor of Illinois, or you’re not. Leadership means owning the outcomes of your decisions, not shifting responsibility when those decisions are questioned.

Either you take responsibility for the system you’ve built, or you admit it isn’t working. But refusing to do either erodes trust and leaves the public without clear answers from the person ultimately in charge.

And silence on cases like Katie’s only deepens the sense that responsibility is being avoided. Say her name: Katie Abraham.

On Monday, Abraham and called out Pritzker for making a big display of sympathy over the deaths of anti-ICE protesters Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota, but showing NO sympathy for the victims of illegal aliens. He wrote:

.@GovPritzker, I saw your post honoring lives lost in Minnesota—standing publicly, naming Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and laying flowers in their memory.

But where was that same compassion on January 19, 2025? That is the day my 20-year-old daughter, Katie Abraham, was killed here in Illinois. She was innocent. She did not knowingly put herself in the middle of an ongoing law enforcement situation. She was not making a dangerous choice.

She was simply living her life—and it was taken from her. You have never said her name. You have never come to where she died. You have never acknowledged her publicly. And beyond that—you have never even responded to me.

I sent you a simple, non-political letter. Not for attention. Not for headlines. Just a father asking for clarity, for answers, and for understanding of the state’s position. You never replied.

And now, in the wake of another tragedy here in Chicago, your public display of compassion elsewhere—while remaining silent about victims in your own state—feels deeply disconnected from the reality families like mine are living every day.

Instead, you continue to defend sanctuary policies that create the conditions where preventable tragedies like hers can happen. This is not about politics. It’s about leadership and accountability.

When you choose to publicly mourn some victims while remaining silent about others—especially those lost under policies you support—it sends a message.

Whether intentional or not, it tells families like mine that our loss does not matter the same way.

So I am asking you directly: Where is your compassion for my daughter? Where is your acknowledgment of victims here in Illinois? And when will you take responsibility for the consequences of the policies you defend?

Say her name: Katie Abraham. Stand where she died. Show the people of Illinois that every life matters.

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