The Trump administration has tapped vocal angel father Joe Abraham, whose daughter Katie was killed by an illegal immigrant drunk driver, to serve in a major role within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Abraham will assume the role of executive director of ICE’s Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement, or VOICE, office, where he will support other angel families whose loved ones were victims of crimes committed by illegal immigrants.
In January 2025, Guatemalan national Julio Cucul-Bol was driving drunk when he caused a hit-and-run crash in Illinois that killed Katie, 20, and her friend Chloe Polzin. Cucul-Bol later pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI causing death and leaving the scene of a crash involving death and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The grieving father has since become a vocal advocate for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort and immigration policies. He has also openly criticized Illinois’ sanctuary policies.
His daughter’s story also inspired the Trump administration’s earlier “Operation Midway Blitz,” a massive immigration sweep targeting Illinois.
“Since his daughter, Katie, was murdered by an illegal alien drunk driver in a hit-and-run in sanctuary Illinois, he has been a staunch advocate for victims of illegal alien crime,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement Friday.
“In his new role, he will continue to help families who have lost a loved one to a preventable tragedy caused by open-border policies,” the department said.
In a statement posted to X on Friday, Abraham said he’s “excited” to assume the new role “because this is not simply a government position for me, it is deeply personal and rooted in a mission I have come to understand through unimaginable loss.”
“I want to use my experience, my voice, and what I have learned through Katie’s story to make sure victims and their families are heard, treated with dignity, and never become an afterthought in our immigration system,” he said.
The Biden administration previously closed the VOICE office in 2021 and replaced it with the Victims Engagement and Services Line, a service that allowed illegal immigrant detainees to report abuse in ICE detention centers.
The Trump administration reopened the VOICE office in April 2025. Since then, the office has received 897 calls from victims, family members, and advocates, DHS said in June.
In total, the office has assisted 588 victims and 185 victim families, according to DHS. The most frequently reported crimes are assault, making up 35%, rape or sexual assault, at 17%, and homicide or manslaughter at 10%.
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