Mom says slain Illinois woman wouldn’t want to be tied to Trump’s immigration blitz

The mother of an Illinois woman killed by an undocumented immigrant in January is speaking out against the Trump administration’s attempts to tie her daughter to the ongoing immigration crackdown in Chicago.

Denise Lorence wrote in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune this week that her late daughter, Katie Abraham, “would not have wanted to be associated with a campaign that targets Chicago — a city she not only loved but felt safe in.”

In September, the Department of Homeland Security launched “Operation Midway Blitz,” a large-scale immigration enforcement operation, in honor of Abraham. She and a friend were killed when an undocumented immigrant, who was driving drunk, crashed into her vehicle in Urbana, Illinois, on Jan. 19. Local police have said the man charged in the case, Julio Cucul Bol, of Guatemala, had attempted to flee the country on a bus headed to Mexico before the U.S. Marshals Service apprehended him.

Federal authorities have since made more than 1,000 arrests in a sustained campaign that has resulted in clashes between law enforcement and protesters. Much of the unrest has taken place in Broadview, a small Chicago suburb where weekly protests have taken place. Trump has also sought to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, but a federal judge has blocked him from doing so.

Joe Abraham, Katie’s father, who is in another marriage, has said he supports the Trump administration’s operation and gave his permission to the Trump administration to honor his daughter. In a statement provided by DHS, he faulted sanctuary city policies, which prevent local law enforcement officials from cooperating with civil immigration enforcement, for helping contribute to his daughter’s death.

In the statement, he said that “as compassionate as she was, Katie would not sacrifice other people’s lives” to bring people in the country illegally.

But in her op-ed, Lorence wrote: “Katie would not have wanted this. … Katie would not want to be associated with an operation in which kids witness their parents being taken into custody on their way to or from school. She wouldn’t support scaring kids with the use of military efforts in their neighborhoods or in their apartment buildings.”

Trump has long highlighted the stories of what he calls “angel” families — those that have had family members killed by immigrants living in the country illegally. The administration highlighted their stories earlier this year while announcing the reopening of the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, which Trump had started in his first term.

In September, Joe Abraham told The Washington Post that he appreciated that the Trump administration honored his daughter and that he didn’t see any controversy in an enforcement operation that targets “undocumented criminals.” DHS also released a video of Abraham recounting his daughter’s death and saying she “received no due process” and “disappeared from us forever.”

In her op-ed, Lorence acknowledged Joe Abraham’s support for the operation and said she would “never fault or question someone in the way they grieve.”

But she also said she was struggling with her own grief and wanted to reclaim her daughter’s legacy.

“Whether or not you agree with Operation Midway Blitz is not the story I am here to write. I am here to tell the story of who Katie was. Katie avoided confrontation and tension. She had never spoken out on a political agenda; she was not an activist,” Lorence wrote. “I taught Katie to advocate for herself, and as heartbreaking as it is, Katie is no longer here to advocate for herself because of a crime that took place 150 miles from Chicago. She cannot advocate for herself and stand up to say ‘I am not a political pawn.’”