Angel father slams Pritzker's sanctuary policies, saying they lead to 'preventable' deaths

The father of Katie Abraham, a 20-year-old woman killed in a hit-and-run crash with an undocumented driver, argued that Illinois leaders have failed victims' families and the state's immigration policies have led to preventable deaths.

In an appearance on "Sunday Night in America," Joe Abraham accused Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker of standing behind illegal immigrants "regardless of the situation."

"The politics created the environment that had Katie killed, and that's what Illinois voters need to know. And what they also need to know is, God forbid, if anything happens to them, their state — just like they did with Katie and me — will turn their backs on you as quick as possible, and they will erase you, and they will make you disappear because our story is inconvenient," he said.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker answers questions at an event at Union Station in Chicago on Dec. 16, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Abraham also called Pritzker's immigration stance "incoherent," pointing to the Democrat's comments following the murder of Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman, who was allegedly killed by Venezuelan national José Medina-Medina. Pritzker appeared to shift the blame to the Trump administration, claiming it was a "national failure" on the president's part.

"This has been a terrible tragedy, and I know that the Gorman family has suffered mightily.… There have been real failures. Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois. That’s their national failures, a failure to have comprehensive immigration reform, a failure of the president to follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst," Pritzker said.

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Abraham questioned why Pritzker is now blaming President Donald Trump for inadequate immigration enforcement after the governor previously compared ICE agents to Nazis.

"Is he trying to say that he wants... 'jackbooted thugs,' as he called them, back into his city because they didn't get the job done the first time around? It's so incoherent," Abraham said.

"He is a person that will never stand behind his policies. He deflects, he deceives, and he is never going to tell the truth to the Illinois voters. Never."

Gov. JB Pritzker is flanked by Cook County Chairwoman Toni Preckwinkle and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images)

The grieving father described his life as a "dark wilderness" since the death of his daughter and criticized politicians' platitudes, saying they don't understand the impact of their sanctuary policies.

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"The guy, he should not have been here, and that's the bottom line," Abraham said. 

"So, when you talk about, 'he will find justice' — there's no such thing, and that's what they don't understand. These are preventable."

He rejected the narrative that his daughter was in the "wrong place at the wrong time," asserting that Katie's death could not be decoupled from politics.

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"My guy who killed Katie didn't get the whole extent of the law. He got some jail time, he'll see the light of day again. My daughter's in the grave. And I feel like I'm in the grave with her. That's how devastating it is."

Fox News' Adam Sabes contributed to this report.