The mother of Katie Abraham — an Illinois woman who authorities say was killed at age 20 in a drunken-driving hit-and-run collision by a man who was in the United States illegally — said she is breaking her silence after her daughter was made the face of President Donald Trump’s amped up immigration enforcement push in Chicago.
“Losing a child unlocked a pain I never knew existed. Losing a child to a crime adds to the depths of despair. Having my child’s legacy be associated with a politically charged and controversial operation instead of the positivity and light she contributed to those within her community is simply unbearable,” Abraham’s mom, Denise Lorence, wrote in an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune, headlined “My daughter is the face of Operation Midway Blitz. I am reclaiming her legacy.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in September that launched the enforcement push, which it named “Operation Midway Blitz,” in Abraham’s honor.
“I have not spoken out since it began, but as Katie’s mother, I can no longer stay silent,” Lorence continued. “The Department of Homeland Security said its immigration enforcement operation in Chicago is named in Katie’s honor. But Katie would not have wanted this.”
She said she decided to speak out after realizing the operation’s association with her daughter wasn’t going away.
“She would not have wanted to be associated with a campaign that targets Chicago — a city she not only loved but felt safe in,” Lorence said.
Her daughter wasn’t political, she avoided confrontation and “was the person people wanted to be around,” she said.
“Whether or not you agree with Operation Midway Blitz is not the story I am here to write,” Lorence wrote, but “she did not choose to be thrust into this political spotlight to advance an operation she knew nothing about.”
Lorence acknowledged that Abraham’s father, Joe Abraham, and his wife agreed that Katie’s name could be used for the operation. Joe Abraham previously told CNN the federal government failed “miserably” in protecting his daughter and that state politicians ignored her death, and by extension, “let it happen.”