The father of an Illinois woman who was killed by an illegal immigrant in a DUI crash issued a warning to Americans amid a push for stricter laws concerning driver’s licenses.
During Wednesday’s California gubernatorial debate, Democrat Katie Porter said she would “fight” the Trump administration after she was asked if English language proficiency should be strictly enforced for truck drivers.
Her comments come amid a string of fatal 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 left three dead, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
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In a more recent case, Bekzhan Beishekeev, an illegal immigrant from Kyrgyzstan who entered the U.S. under the Biden administration, is accused of failing to stop for a slowing semi-truck, swerving into oncoming traffic and slamming into a van carrying up to 15 passengers, killing four, according to DHS.
Joe Abraham, whose daughter was killed by an illegal immigrant drunken 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.
“What happens is the outcomes are like what my family’s suffering through right now. So you take away these guardrails, you nullify federal law, and then you implement no real process, an upfront process to understand who’s coming into our communities. Are they vetted? They were not. Were they health screened? No, the guy who killed Katie had HIV, no one even identified him until he was incarcerated,” he said.
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Abraham’s daughter, Katie, was killed in a drunken driving hit-and-run crash that involved an illegal immigrant in 2025 in Urbana, Illinois. Julio Cucul-Bol, an illegal immigrant, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he crashed into her car and fled the scene.
“Let’s figure out where those cracks are and tighten them up. But if you have a process, and I’ve been talking about this since Katie’s death, you cannot just say, everyone is my neighbor,” he said.
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Abraham said at the very least, knowledge of the English language should be a requirement.
“It seems really common sense-wise, and I know that our politicians today struggle with common sense. I don’t know if they try to outsmart their common sense or if it’s just straight up ideology and power. But it seems to me that if you’re on the roads, not only should you know the language and be able to read the signs and understand the flow, but you should be assimilated in some way,” Abraham said.
The Illinois resident said his daughter was a “beautiful person” with a “sharp wit.”
“She was so personable. Her personality was so engaging, made everyone feel seen, heard, cared for, compassionate, fair-minded. She loved the water. She was a water polo player. She was a competitive swimmer. Did that all through high school. She had her whole life ahead of her. And see, you know, like a sponge, she soaked in life, every piece of it, and she was only 20. We still had so many plans ahead of us that were, you know, that are just gone because of reckless policies,” he added.
Fox News Digital reached out to Porter’s campaign for comment.
