Katie Abraham was a 20-year-old junior at Ohio University from Glenview, Illinois, killed on January 19, 2025, when a previously deported drunk driver struck the car she was riding in near the University of Illinois in Urbana and fled the scene. Her name became a fixture in the national immigration debate after the Trump administration dedicated a major enforcement operation to her, a move her father supported and her mother publicly condemned.
Who She Was and How She Died
Abraham grew up in the Chicago suburbs, graduated from Glenbrook South High School, and played water polo for the East Side Water Polo Club. Her mother, Denise Lorence, described her as “intuitive, full of compassion and empathy,” someone who avoided confrontation and was not an activist, who loved driving around Chicago talking about music and current events.1Chicago Tribune. Denise Lorence: My Daughter Is the Face of Operation Midway Blitz. I Am Reclaiming Her Legacy
In the early morning hours of January 19, 2025, a vehicle carrying Abraham, her friend Chloe Polzin, and three others was struck by an SUV in Urbana-Champaign. The driver fled. Abraham was killed. Polzin, a 21-year-old chemistry student at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, suffered a traumatic brain injury and was declared brain dead the next day. Three other passengers were injured.2NPR Illinois. Who Is Katie Abraham, the Illinois Native at the Center of the Latest DHS Deportation Campaign
The Driver and the Criminal Case
The U.S. Marshals Service caught the driver three days later in Milford, Texas, aboard a bus headed toward Mexico. He first gave the name Juan Jahaziel Saenz-Suarez, but investigators identified him as Julio Cucul-Bol, a 29-year-old Guatemalan citizen who had been deported once before, in 2016.2NPR Illinois. Who Is Katie Abraham, the Illinois Native at the Center of the Latest DHS Deportation Campaign
On October 24, 2025, Cucul-Bol pleaded guilty in Champaign County to five counts, including aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death and leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Two reckless homicide charges were dropped under the plea agreement. He was sentenced to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections at 85 percent, with credit for 267 days served. The longest single term was 26 years for aggravated DUI resulting in death, with a consecutive four-year term for leaving the scene.3WCIA. Man Sentenced to 30 Years After Taking Plea Deal in Deadly Urbana Hit and Run
A separate federal case is pending. On May 6, 2025, a grand jury in the Illinois Central District Court indicted Cucul-Bol on four document-fraud counts tied to a fake permanent resident card, a false Social Security card, a false statement on an application, and false use of a passport. Court records indicate he had used fraudulent documents to open a Chase bank account in November 2023. As of mid-2025, no plea had been entered and no trial date set.4Fox Illinois. Father of Urbana Hit and Run Victim Urges Changes to Sanctuary Policies5PACER Monitor. USA v. Cucul-Bol
Her Parents on Opposite Sides
Abraham’s father, Joe Abraham, became a vocal advocate for stricter immigration enforcement. He appeared at a June 12, 2025, House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing, and on June 26, 2025, stood alongside President Trump at a White House event where Trump held a photo of Katie. In August 2025, the Department of Homeland Security released a video featuring Joe Abraham and his current wife promoting the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” in which he said his daughter “was killed by someone who really could have been vetted and not been in this country.”2NPR Illinois. Who Is Katie Abraham, the Illinois Native at the Center of the Latest DHS Deportation Campaign6Chicago Sun-Times. Operation Midway Blitz Katie Abraham Illinois DHS
In an October 31, 2025, Chicago Tribune opinion piece, he called the enforcement mission “moral” rather than “political” and criticized Illinois sanctuary laws, writing that state leaders “have not treated immigration as a matter of public safety or national security.” He went on to publish opinion pieces in Fox News and the Washington Examiner and appeared on a Center for Immigration Studies podcast in December 2025.7Chicago Tribune. Joe Abraham: We All Share My Daughter Katie’s Legacy8Center for Immigration Studies. Immigration Policy Failures Seen Through a Father’s Loss
Lorence took the opposite position. She initially stayed quiet, she told ABC7 Chicago, because Katie’s father was grieving and had given DHS his blessing. By October 2025 she was speaking publicly, telling the station the enforcement operation “doesn’t align with who she was” and that “it was a drunk driver that killed her. It was bad decision making by a human being that killed her.”9ABC7 Chicago. Katie Abraham’s Mother Speaks on DHS Operation Midway Blitz She also accused the administration of erasing her: “They’re framing another person as her mother to lead people to believe that both Katie’s parents were on board with this atrocity.”10NBC Chicago. Mother Says Daughter Would Have Hated Being Linked to Operation Midway Blitz
In April 2026, Lorence testified before the Illinois Accountability Commission that “Katie would have hated it, and she would have hated having her name continuing to be used by politicians, publicly and on social media.” She called the use of her daughter’s name “vile.”11Capitol News Illinois. It’s Not for Her: DHS Dedicated Midway Blitz in Her Name, Her Mother Says She Would Have Hated It Chloe Polzin’s family did not publicly comment on the politicization of the crash.2NPR Illinois. Who Is Katie Abraham, the Illinois Native at the Center of the Latest DHS Deportation Campaign
Operation Midway Blitz
On September 8, 2025, DHS launched Operation Midway Blitz, an immigration enforcement campaign targeting Illinois and explicitly dedicated to Katie Abraham. Secretary Kristi Noem framed it as going after “criminal illegal aliens” in “Sanctuary Illinois.”12U.S. Department of Homeland Security. ICE Launches Operation Midway Blitz in Honor of Katie Abraham Joe Abraham told ABC7 that a DHS official had called him the day before to ask permission to use his daughter’s name, and he agreed.13ABC7 Chicago. Katie Abraham Chloe Polzin DHS Immigration Operation Midway Blitz
The operation reached well beyond its stated focus. A Chicago Tribune analysis cited by Capitol News Illinois found the campaign detained roughly 3,800 people and deported nearly 2,500, most with no criminal record. The Marshall Project counted about 1,600 arrests in the Chicago area alone, with detainees moved to facilities across 13 states, including a former federal prison in Michigan and a tent facility at Fort Bliss, Texas.11Capitol News Illinois. It’s Not for Her: DHS Dedicated Midway Blitz in Her Name, Her Mother Says She Would Have Hated It14The Marshall Project. ICE Chicago Immigration Blitz Data
Two people were fatally shot by federal agents in connection with the campaign. On September 12, 2025, Silverio Villegas González, a 38-year-old cook from Mexico, was killed during a traffic stop in Franklin Park, Illinois. DHS claimed he had struck and dragged an agent with his vehicle, but body camera footage captured the injured agent describing his injuries as “nothing major.” An autopsy found the bullet struck the back of Villegas González’s neck.15Chicago Sun-Times. ICE Midway Blitz Chicago Trump Silverio Villegas Gonzalez16CNN. ICE Shooting Minneapolis Renee Good17Vera Institute. The ICE Killing of Renee Nicole Good Is a Watershed Moment for Trump
The operation was led in the field by Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis later found that Bovino lied under oath about deploying tear gas against a crowd in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood on October 23, 2025, and about tackling a man at the Broadview ICE facility, both contradicted by video evidence.18WTTW News. Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino Admitted He Lied About Firing Tear Gas, Tackling Ellis issued a preliminary injunction restricting agents’ use of riot control weapons, though the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals later stayed it.19Capitol News Illinois. DOJ Lawyer Says It’s Wrong to Allege Operation Midway Blitz Is Over
Lawsuits, Legislation, and the Accountability Commission
On January 12, 2026, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the city of Chicago filed a 103-page lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against DHS and Trump administration officials, alleging violations of the Tenth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. The suit accused federal agents of deploying tear gas against residents, conducting warrantless entries into private property, using biometric scanning without reasonable suspicion, and operating at sensitive locations including courthouses and schools. DHS called the lawsuit “baseless.”20Illinois Attorney General. Attorney General Raoul Files Lawsuit Against Trump Administration21WTTW News. Illinois, Chicago Sue Trump Administration Over Illegal Immigration Enforcement Tactics In December 2025, Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation restricting federal immigration authorities’ conduct near courthouses and creating legal recourse for people whose constitutional rights were violated by federal agents.22Courthouse News Service. Protesters’ Case Against Operation Midway Blitz in Illinois Stalls
Pritzker also established the Illinois Accountability Commission in October 2025, chaired by former Chief Judge Ruben Castillo. Its 204-page final report, released April 30, 2026, documented what it called “patterns of illegal and violent conduct,” including paramilitary tactics, warrantless arrests, indiscriminate deployment of chemical agents on more than 60 occasions against peaceful protesters, and “extreme physical force.”23WTTW News. Illinois Commission Details Federal Agents’ Illegal and Violent Conduct in Final Report The commission found that 85 percent of the roughly 3,900 people detained had no criminal convictions.24American Immigration Council. Chicago Illinois Commission Operation Midway Blitz Immigration
The commission found reasonable cause to believe Border Patrol agent Charles Exum lacked justification when he shot teacher’s aide Marimar Martinez five times in October 2025, and that evidence in her case was tampered with. It also named agents Benito Nuñez, Carlos Chavira, and Jesus Guillen for allegedly performing a high-speed car-ramming maneuver on Chicago’s East Side and deploying tear gas on bystanders, including Chicago police officers who had ordered them to stop. Referral letters went to prosecutors in Cook and Kane counties and to police departments in Chicago, Evanston, Franklin Park, and Elgin.25Capitol News Illinois. Accountability Commission Refers Federal Agents for Investigation, Possible Prosecution
Accountability has moved slowly. On May 21, 2026, Cook County Judge Erica Reddick rejected a petition to appoint a special prosecutor for cases against federal agents, ruling petitioners had not shown Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke had abandoned her duties or held an actual conflict of interest.26NBC Chicago. Cook County Judge Rejects Special Prosecutor to Investigate Operation Midway Blitz The Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force opened an investigation into the killing of Silverio Villegas González. As of mid-2026, no federal agent had been criminally charged for conduct during the operation carried out in Katie Abraham’s name.27WTTW News. Illinois State Police Launch Investigation Into Killing of Silverio Villegas González