Father Angel reprimands Democrats for sitting down during the State of the Union

An angel father whose daughter was killed by an illegal immigrant is criticizing lawmakers for refusing to support American citizens during Tuesday’s State of the Union.

During his speech, President Donald Trump called on lawmakers to stand up if they agree that the first duty of the American government is to protect its citizens rather than to protect illegal immigrants. While the Republicans surged, most of the Democratic Party remained seated.

Joe Abraham, whose daughter Katie Abraham was killed by an illegal immigrant in January 2025, said this time indicates that families like his are no longer visible.

“In the State of the Union, you can’t stand for some of these simple ideas? It’s very strange to me,” Abraham said Friday on “The Riley Gaines Show.”

“I don’t really understand what’s going on, but we have bad people running things,” he added.

His daughter and her friend were killed when a Guatemalan citizen who was in the United States illegally crashed into their car while traveling at a speed of about 80 mph. The driver has been deported before and was using multiple aliases to obtain a driver’s license.

Since his daughter’s death, Abraham said he has tried to contact the country’s authorities about the sanctuary’s policies, but his requests for accountability have received a “completely non-existent” response.

GOV PRITZKER DIDN’T HEARD MY LETTER — AFTER HIS SANCTUARY POLICIES KILLED MY DAUGHTER

DHS launched ‘Operation Midway Blitz’ in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in a drunken driving, hit-and-run accident caused by an illegal immigrant in a sanctuary state in Illinois. (Department of Homeland Security)

“There is no real, logical understanding of why the governor of the state would not want to talk to a citizen of his state, a lifelong Illinoisan,” Abraham said.

“The disrespect shown to Katie disgusts me so much,” he added.

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Abraham, who described his family as “still in a dark place,” said the state continued to ignore him while the federal government took action. He revealed that he has spoken “father to father” with President Donald Trump since the tragedy.

In 2025, Abraham supported the launch of Operation Midway Blitz in honor of his daughter. The operation targeted immigrant criminals from Chicago, who DHS says “flooded” to Illinois because they knew sanctuary policies would protect them.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson back down from President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard and increase the use of ICE in Chicago on September 2, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois. (Getty Images; Scott Olson)

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In September, Pritzker responded to a DHS post on X, formerly Twitter, about Operation Midway Blitz, writing: “Again, it’s not about fighting crime. That requires support and communication — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that in the last few weeks.”

“Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump Administration is focused on terrorizing the people of Illinois,” Pritzker added.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Pritzker’s office for comment.

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