Grieving father takes helm of ICE victims office after daughter killed by illegal immigrant

Joe Abraham was living what he calls a comfortable life in Illinois, the kind where you think ahead to retirement and watching your children grow old. That life ended on a January night in 2025 when his daughter Katie was killed by a drunk driver. The driver was Julio Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national traveling under an assumed Mexican identity, who did not speak English. Cucul-Bol was arrested days later in Texas as he attempted to cross back into Mexico. He pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death and leaving the scene of a fatal crash, and received a 30-year prison sentence.

About eighteen months later, Abraham found himself sitting in a federal office on his first day as director of ICE's Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement office—a position he never sought and never imagined he would hold. "My whole world is upside down," he told Fox News Digital. "My life as I know it is not there anymore." The transformation from grieving parent to federal administrator happened gradually, then suddenly. After Katie's death, Abraham discovered that state officials in Illinois were unwilling to help him navigate the aftermath. He felt abandoned by the very government that was supposed to protect its citizens. When he testified before Congress in June 2025 about his daughter's case, he said Democratic governors and congressional members refused to acknowledge him. But President Trump invited him and other families who had lost loved ones to undocumented immigrants to the White House. Abraham described the meeting as genuine and empathetic—a stark contrast, he felt, to how the media portrayed the president.

That White House visit set in motion a series of events that led to his current role. Abraham began working with the Department of Homeland Security on communications, telling his story across multiple platforms. His appointment to lead VOICE came after the Trump administration reestablished the office in April 2025, having shuttered it during the previous administration. The office exists to help families navigate the legal complexities surrounding crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, to connect them with grief counseling and social services, and to collect reports of such crimes.

In its first few months of operation, VOICE received 897 calls from victims, family members, and advocates. The office has assisted 588 victims seeking information and help, and connected 185 family members with services. The crimes reported most frequently are assault at 35 percent, rape and sexual assault at 17 percent, and homicide and manslaughter at 10 percent. Abraham's vision for the office is straightforward: he wants it to be a single point of entry for families in crisis. When tragedy strikes, he explained, you are in a fog. You cannot think clearly. You do not absorb information. You are drowning in grief. The last thing you need is to navigate six different government agencies. "I want this to be someplace where victims feel heard, feel cared for, feel dignity," he said. "They deserve nothing less than that."

Katie's death also inspired Operation Midway Blitz, a federal immigration enforcement action that resulted in the arrest of more than 4,000 undocumented immigrants in the Chicago area. Abraham said he would give anything to have his daughter back and never speak publicly again. But that is not the reality he lives in now. Instead, he is trying to find purpose in a life that no longer contains her. He wants her name to mean something. He wants her to be proud of what he does with the time he has left.