Sanctuary policies failed my daughter — and my state
My youngest daughter, Katie, who was only 20 years old, was killed on Jan. 19. Her only “crime” was being a passenger in a car in Urbana, Illinois. The man who took her life, Julio Cucul-Bol, was an illegal immigrant who was driving drunk when he slammed into the Honda Civic she was riding in at nearly 80 miles an hour. He fled immediately and was then aided by associates in Urbana and Chicago as he tried to escape justice.
We later learned Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national, was using a Mexican alias: Juan Jahaziel Saenz-Suarez. Federal authorities knew about the alias. If his identity, background, and health status had been properly verified, he could have been filtered out long before Jan. 19. Katie would still be alive.
Yet Illinois officials have insisted there is nothing they can do about the people who helped him flee. After leaving Urbana, he traveled to Chicago and boarded a bus to Mexico. Only two days after President Donald Trump returned to office, U.S. Marshals finally caught Cucul-Bol in Texas. I will always wonder if he would have been caught had the prior administration still been in charge.
For years, the preferred term was “undocumented immigrant.” I will not use it. The man who killed my daughter had multiple documents and multiple identities. “Illegal alien” is the accurate, legal term.
The political leadership of Illinois created the conditions that made Katie’s death possible. By declaring Illinois a sanctuary state — proudly and without guardrails — they invited the world to enter and be protected, with virtually no screening. I repeatedly asked what front-end vetting exists: background checks, health screenings, identity verification, anything.
What I learned after Katie’s death is devastating: Cucul-Bol entered the country, the state, and our community with a communicable infectious disease. It went undetected and untreated. He was released into our community with no oversight and no warning. That is not compassion; it is governmental negligence.
We do not even know whether he was issued an Illinois driver’s license. Our FOIA requests have been denied due to “ongoing investigations.” If Illinois gave him a license, how did he pass the written exam when he reported having no formal education in any language? No answers.
My youngest daughter, Katie, who was only 20 years old, was killed on Jan. 19. Her only “crime” was being a passenger in a car in Urbana, Illinois. The man who took her life, Julio Cucul-Bol, was an illegal immigrant who was driving drunk when he slammed into the Honda Civic she was riding in at nearly 80 miles an hour. He fled immediately and was then aided by associates in Urbana and Chicago as he tried to escape justice.
We later learned Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national, was using a Mexican alias: Juan Jahaziel Saenz-Suarez. Federal authorities knew about the alias. If his identity, background, and health status had been properly verified, he could have been filtered out long before Jan. 19. Katie would still be alive.
Yet Illinois officials have insisted there is nothing they can do about the people who helped him flee. After leaving Urbana, he traveled to Chicago and boarded a bus to Mexico. Only two days after President Donald Trump returned to office, U.S. Marshals finally caught Cucul-Bol in Texas. I will always wonder if he would have been caught had the prior administration still been in charge.
For years, the preferred term was “undocumented immigrant.” I will not use it. The man who killed my daughter had multiple documents and multiple identities. “Illegal alien” is the accurate, legal term.
The political leadership of Illinois created the conditions that made Katie’s death possible. By declaring Illinois a sanctuary state — proudly and without guardrails — they invited the world to enter and be protected, with virtually no screening. I repeatedly asked what front-end vetting exists: background checks, health screenings, identity verification, anything.
What I learned after Katie’s death is devastating: Cucul-Bol entered the country, the state, and our community with a communicable infectious disease. It went undetected and untreated. He was released into our community with no oversight and no warning. That is not compassion; it is governmental negligence.
We do not even know whether he was issued an Illinois driver’s license. Our FOIA requests have been denied due to “ongoing investigations.” If Illinois gave him a license, how did he pass the written exam when he reported having no formal education in any language? No answers.
