Father of DUI crash victim warns against licenses for illegal immigrants
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The father of an Illinois woman killed by an illegal immigrant in a drunk-driving crash has issued a warning to Americans amid a push for tougher laws on driver’s licenses.
During Wednesday’s California gubernatorial debate, Democrat Katie Porter said she would “fight” the Trump administration when asked whether English language proficiency should be strictly mandated for truck drivers.
His comments come amid a string of deadly incidents involving illegal immigrant drivers, including Harjinder Singh, who allegedly made an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike in August, triggering a crash that killed three people, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
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The Department of Homeland Security launched Operation Midway Blitz to honor Katie Abraham, who was killed in a hit-and-run by a vigilante in Illinois. The department worked with his father, Joe Abraham, during the operation. (Department of Homeland Security)
In a more recent case, Bekzhan Beishekeev, an illegal immigrant from Kyrgyzstan who entered the United States under the Biden administration, is accused of failing to stop a slowing semi-truck, crossing into oncoming traffic and crashing into a van carrying 15 passengers, killing four of them, according to DHS.
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Joe Abraham, whose daughter was killed by an illegal immigrant drunk driver, warned Americans in an interview with Fox News Digital about the dangers of allowing illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, commercial or otherwise, without proper vetting.
“The consequences are similar to what my family is suffering right now. So you take away these guardrails, you override federal law, and then you don’t do a real process, it’s a front-end process to figure out who’s coming into our communities. Has he been vetted or not? Has he been screened? No, the man who killed Katie had HIV, no one even diagnosed him until he was incarcerated,” he said.
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Joe Abraham holds a photo of himself with his 20-year-old daughter, Katie Abraham, at their family home in Glenview, Illinois, on September 10, 2025. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service)
Abraham’s daughter, Katie, died in 2025 in Urbana, Illinois, in a hit-and-run accident involving a drunk car and an illegal immigrant. Illegal immigrant Julio Cucul-Bol was sentenced to 30 years in prison after crashing his car and fleeing the scene.
“Let’s find where these cracks are and tighten them. But if you have a process, and I’ve been talking about this since Katie’s death, you can’t just say everyone is my neighbor,” he said.
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Abraham said at least knowledge of English should be a requirement.
“It really seems to be in terms of common sense, and I know our politicians today struggle with common sense. I don’t know if they’re trying to defeat their common sense, or if it’s just straight up ideology and power. But it seems to me that if you’re on the road, you have to not only know the language and be able to read the signs and understand the flow, but also somehow assimilate,” Abraham said.
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Katie Abraham died when the car she was traveling in was hit by a drunk driver, an illegal immigrant. (Joe Abraham)
The Illinois resident said her daughter was a “beautiful person” with a “sharp mind.”
“He was so friendly. His personality was so engaging, he made everyone feel seen, heard, cared for, compassionate and fair-minded. He loved the water. He was a water polo player. He was a competitive swimmer. He did that all through high school. He had his whole life ahead of him. And you know, he was soaked in every bit of life like a sponge, and he was only 20 years old. We still had so many plans ahead of us, you know, because they got blown away because of them. Reckless policies,” he added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Porter’s campaign for comment.
