A little over a month ago, I was talking about the White Guilt film with my friend, Beth Feeley, from Chicago who had seen a rough cut. She told me the themes hit close to home—directly connected to the tragedy that her friend Joe Abraham and his family have been living through since January of 2025. That’s how I first came to know the story of Joe and his daughter Katie.

Like many Americans, I had heard of Operation Midway Blitz, ICE’s push to round up the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago, and what I saw on the news was painted as chaos and cruelty. Protesters filled the streets and politicians like Illinois Governor Pritzker donned bulletproof vests and condemned ICE. At the same time, I saw on social media glimpses of everyday Chicagoans greeting and feeding the ICE officers. Two very different pictures.

What I didn’t know was that the operation was launched in Katie Abraham’s honor, with her father Joe’s full support.

I spoke with Joe for over an hour. He described how, in January 2025, 20-year-old Katie was killed at a Urbana stoplight when Julio Cucul Bol—a previously deported Guatemalan national using a Mexican alias—slammed into her Honda Civic at 80 mph. He was drunk. He fled the scene. Katie died instantly. Her friend the next day. Three other girls were injured.

Joe’s grief is raw, and so is his anger at the “selective compassion” shown by Illinois leaders, especially Governor Pritzker. As Joe put it: “My family does not qualify for any compassion… I think it’s because we’re law-abiding, we’re productive.” Sympathy flows to those who broke the rules, but for Joe’s family—nothing. No call, no visit from the governor, even when they sat ten feet apart at a congressional hearing.

We talked about the social contract as defined by Edmund Burke. Citizens follow the law, pay taxes, raise good kids, and they expect protection in return. Joe did everything right. His own parents immigrated legally and built a productive life in America. Yet our leaders allowed hundreds of thousands in without any vetting, and left families like his exposed.

“Katie got a death sentence without any due process,” Joe said. “We have a life sentence… stuck in a cold dark jail cell ourselves.”

Why do some leaders protect non-citizens over citizens? On the human level, it’s a deep betrayal — like your life, your child’s future, is worth less than a political calculation.

Yet Midway Blitz honored Katie by removing thousands of serious threats from Chicago’s streets. Joe believes she’d approve. “Katie’s looking out for others now,” he said. Indeed, a recent news release revealed the criminal records of many that had been arrested.

After our call, I decided to include a small clip of Joe and Katie into the White Guilt film — it was too late to do a full story that would do justice. I also could not stop thinking about this story and, even though I’m not a podcaster, I thought it would be good to bring this conversation to you. So I asked Joe if he’d be willing to do this and he generously offered his time. The link is below.