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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
DHS launched an immigration operation in Chicago in honor of
20-year-old Katie Abraham. Here’s what we know about her death
By Chris Boyette, Taylor Romine, CNN
Updated:
5:00 AM EDT, Thu September 11, 2025
Source: CNN
Katie Abraham and Chloe Polzin were hunting for a late-night snack with
three other friends on a frigid night in Urbana, Illinois.
The end of winter break was nearing for the two university students,
who had traveled to Urbana to visit other water polo players at the
University of Illinois, Abraham’s father told CNN.
It was nearly 2 a.m. on January 19 when 20-year-old Abraham and
21-year-old Polzin, along with their friends, stopped at a red light.
Suddenly, an SUV came up quickly behind them, smashing into the car and
injuring all five people inside, according to Urbana Police.
The two girls were killed in a drunken-driving hit-and-run collision,
the said, by a man in the United States illegally who fled the scene of
the crime.
Abraham was pronounced dead at the hospital soon after the accident,
police said. Polzin died the next day, according to her .
Almost eight months after Abraham’s death, the Department of Homeland
Security announced it was launching its latest immigration enforcement
action in Illinois, “Operation Midway Blitz,” in , drawing the
20-year-old’s name into national politics as an example of a broken
immigration system amid a larger crackdown in cities across the US.
Her father, Joe Abraham, told CNN the federal government failed
“miserably” in protecting his daughter and that state politicians
ignored her death, and by extension, “let it happen.”
What we know about the wreck
Temperatures had dropped as low as 2 degrees the night Abraham died,
and never broke above freezing that day.
Abraham and Polzin were childhood friends from their time at the in the
Chicago suburbs.
The two girls, along with three other friends, were sitting at a red
light just 1.5 miles north of the University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign when a red Mitsubishi Outlander crashed into the back
of their car, police said.
All five were taken to the hospital, according to police. While two
were released with minor injuries and another made a recovery, Abraham
was declared dead at the hospital. Polzin was declared brain dead the
next day, according to her obituary.
The Polzin family did not respond to CNN’s attempts to speak with
them for this story.
Police said the driver fled the scene on foot. Three days later, the US
Marshals Service found him in Texas, riding a bus headed to Mexico.
The death of the youngest daughter
Joe Abraham’s youngest daughter loved water.
“I think she liked the water better than land,” her father said.
She played water polo for a travel team throughout high school and for
a club team in college. She swam and did diving from a young age, he
said.
Abraham, who was from Glenview, Illinois, was going into her third year
at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, according to her father. She
wasn’t certain yet, but he thinks she was leaning toward majoring in
marketing. They intended to talk about it the next time she was home.
“She kind of had a plan of where she was going to go, and obviously
that didn’t happen,” he said.
Joe Abraham said his daughter “loved life, and she knew how to enjoy
it, and get the best out of it.”
He called her “such a special person,” who was genuine and
authentic. She made everyone feel seen and had a terrific wit and a
great sense of humor, he added.
She loved all kinds of music, and Joe Abraham recalled sitting together
and listening to music from his generation.
She had an “eclectic group of friends,” and two siblings with whom
she was close.
“She was just such a good sister to her older sister and older
brother,” her father said. “It’s a sad, sad situation.”
What we know about the SUV driver
US Marshals tracked down the SUV driver three days after he fled the
scene of the crime on an “El Expreso” bus – “the express” –
heading to Matamoros, Mexico.
The man told police he was a 27-year-old Mexican named Juan Jahaziel
Saenz-Suarez the morning he was captured. But a day later, he that his
identity was a lie – he was 29, from Guatemala. His name was actually
Julio Cucul-Bol.
He was not legally in the United States and had used forged documents
to hide his identity, police said.
Police filed new charges against Cucul-Bol for leaving the scene of a
personal injury crash resulting in death, aggravated driving under the
influence resulting in death and reckless homicide.
Federal prosecutors charged Cucul-Bol in May with possessing a false
permanent resident card, possessing a false Social Security card, false
use of a passport, and making a false statement on a bank application,
according to the .
In February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an arrest
detainer requesting local authorities notify ICE before Cucol-Bol is
released, the agency told CNN. According to ICE records, he is being
held in custody in Champaign, Illinois.
CNN has reached out to the Department of Justice for an update on
Cucul-Bol’s status. Court documents online do not list the name of a
defense attorney for Cucul-Bol.
A death drawn into a political arena
Joe Abraham said the federal government first reached out to him in
June, when House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman
James Comer invited him to attend a where Democratic governors –
including J.B. Pritzker of Illinois – testified about their states’
so-called “sanctuary state” policies.
He said he had hoped to speak with Pritzker after the Illinois governor
heard his daughter’s story, but told CNN, “No one could muster up
even a look in my direction.”
A few weeks later, he said, he and his wife were contacted by the Trump
administration and invited to the White House for an event for
Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
“Joe, we will end this invasion once and for all, and we’re always
going to remember the memory of Katie, the beautiful, beautiful
20-year-old daughter of yours,” Trump told him before shaking his
hand and holding up a photo of the father and daughter.
“I don’t want to get political. I hate this crap. I’m just in
this position now,” Joe Abraham told CNN.
He criticized the current Illinois government and the previous
presidential administration for mishandling immigration and called for
a vetting process before people are allowed in the country.
“Don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying everyone’s a criminal.
What I’m saying is this guy in particular could have easily been
filtered out of the system. He was using an alias … and really was
not being any type of a productive person here in Illinois,” Joe
Abraham told CNN. “And for him to take her life is a very sad
state.”
Abraham’s parents were featured in a video posted by the Department
of Homeland Security earlier this week, where the agency announced it
was launching an immigration operation in Illinois.
A question appears in overlaid text on the video: “When you hear
people say illegal aliens aren’t given due process, what’s your
reaction?”
“Katie received no due process,” Joe Abraham says in the video.
“When you talk about due process, I wish she was in another country
or in some detention center I can go see her, but she’s not, and
I’ll never see her again.”
The Department of Homeland Security called Joe Abraham one day before
the agency announced Operation Midway Blitz would be done in honor of
their daughter.
“Some might say they’re leveraging me, but maybe we’re leveraging
them a little bit so other kids don’t get killed, and other parents
don’t have to go see what we’re going through,” he said. “So,
maybe it’s a two-way street there. I was just happy someone
acknowledged Katie.”
What is Operation Midway Blitz?
DHS on Monday “Operation Midway Blitz,” aimed at targeting
“criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because
they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect
them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained at least five people
over the weekend, including a flower vendor and a person waiting for
the bus, Chicago Alderperson Jeylú Gutiérrez said Monday.
Ongoing arrests in Chicago are expected to expand as a federal presence
builds up in a weeks-long, phased approach, according to officials
familiar with the plans who stressed it’s still in flux.
The operations in Boston and Chicago are modeled after the June
immigration sweeps in Los Angeles. The Supreme Court ruled Monday that
immigration enforcement officials can continue what in Southern
California that lower courts said likely violated the Fourth Amendment.
Pritzker denounced the DHS operations in the state Monday, saying that
the operation “isn’t about fighting crime.”
“That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced
nothing like that over the past several weeks,” he said, adding that
the administration has chosen to focus “on scaring Illinoisians.”
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez and Danya Gainor contributed to this report.
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