Latest news with #JoeAbraham
Fox News
09-08-2025
- Fox News
DHS video honors young woman killed in hit-and-run allegedly caused by illegal immigrant
Michelle and Joe Abraham's lives changed forever in January 2025 when their 20-year-old daughter, Katie, was killed in a hit-and-run allegedly caused by a Guatemalan national who was in the country illegally and is suspected of driving under the influence. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently released a video of Katie's parents speaking about their daughter and the immense loss they experienced. "Katie was one of these unique kids. She had such a unique personality. She was very spirited. She made everyone feel seen," Joe said in the DHS video. "Her sense of humor was incredible. Her wit was so sharp." Katie and her friend, Chloe Polzin, were at a stoplight when a suspected drunk driver, now believed to be an illegal immigrant, struck their car and fled from the scene. Katie died at the scene, while Chloe succumbed to her injuries the next day at the hospital. "These two young women—college students with their entire lives ahead of them—were killed by an illegal alien who should have NEVER been in our country. This tragedy was senseless and completely preventable," DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release. She went on to slam Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, saying that he and other political leaders who promote sanctuary policies are putting Americans in danger. A report from the Urbana Police Department states that in the early hours of Jan. 19, 2025, officers were called to the scene of a "severe traffic crash." While the police reports do not say exactly how fast the suspect was going, Joe says in the DHS video that the girls' car was struck at nearly 80 miles per hour. The Urbana police report says it was at a "high rate of speed." Urbana Police say the suspect, identified as Julio Cucul Bol, a Guatemalan national, initially used an alias when speaking with authorities. Bol is charged with two counts of leaving the scene of a personal injury crash resulting in death, two counts of reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death. Joe described the pain of losing his daughter as "gut-wrenching" and said that had Bol been vetted and not allowed into the country, Katie would be alive today. "It's so gut-wrenching every day, and I wish I could explain it, but it's as if just this large piece of you is gone and will never be back, and you've just gotta move forward with it." Michelle said in the DHS video that they were not aware that the suspect was allegedly in the country illegally until a few days after the crash. "The Urbana Police Department was great in getting us the information as soon as they could, but they didn't know where he was. It's that much more difficult to comprehend now this person is on the loose. We don't know where he is. They suspected he was trying to flee," Michelle said. In May, Bol was indicted by a grand jury on charges of possessing a false permanent resident card, possessing a false Social Security card, false use of a passport and making a false statement on a bank application. Bol faces a potential maximum penalty of up to 10 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release for the charges related to possession of false documents. Additionally, the charge related to the bank application carries a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison, a $1M fine and up to five years of supervised release. "Katie received no due process. And I know they like to use certain terms like disappeared and taken, snatched. But let me tell you, Katie was disappeared, taken, snatched, received no due process at all. And the difference here is Katie was disappeared from us forever," Joe said in response to those who say illegal immigrants are not granted due process. The Trump administration has implemented a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration, one of the issues President Donald Trump focused on during his campaign. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported a total of 8,024 nationwide apprehensions in June 2025. Of those apprehended, more than 2,500 were individuals at-large, while over 5,400 apprehensions occurred at or near the point of entry. This is a staggering drop from June 2024, when CBP reported 87,606 nationwide encounters, including 1,800 apprehensions at large and over 85,800 at entry. "We do need to secure the border. That's been very clear now because it has been abused for obviously specific reasons. And I think what he's doing is the right thing to do. We can't have unaudited folk," Joe said. Michelle seemed to agree, saying that "people need to be responsible for enforcing the current law, which is not happening, and that's what got Katie killed."
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Mythica: Stormbound review – new chunk of swords and sorcery tale ripe for avid franchise audience
This low-budget but reasonably competent swords and sorcery yarn is the sixth instalment in a series of Mythica films that goes back to 2014. It seems they were first bankrolled partly by crowdfunding, and then presumably kept going by the production's low overheads and straight-to-retail distribution to an audience that clearly grooves to quasi-Tolkienian, Dungeons and Dragons-style quests featuring a motley band (there is usually an elf or dwarf). If you like your necromancy tales spiked with huge chunks of nattering as the characters endeavour to bulk out the running time with lots of banter and exposition, this may be just the ticket. Don't worry too much about not having seen the other five films because this is reasonably watchable, especially as so much time is devoted to filling newbies in on the backstory via dialogue and voiceover. In any case, this is a bit of reboot with the meagre plot unfolding about 15 years after events in the last film. The ensemble is made of up all-new characters who allude to such figures as Marek the slave girl-cum-magician who led the franchise earlier. This go-round, our protagonist is The Stranger (Will Kemp), known just as Stranger to his friends; he is an apothecary/bounty hunter (clearly in this medieval economy everyone has two or three jobs) travelling with a mysterious cargo in his wagon. Stranger finds Erid (Nate Morley), an injured young man, on the road and brings him to an inn run by Irish-accented dwarf Giblock (Joe Abraham). The inn just happens to be where Erid had been living as a one of Giblock's slaves along with comely Arlin (Ryann Bailey), but Erid recently got caught up in a catastrophe when the local witch, who goes by the delightful moniker Mahitable Crow (Barta Heiner), murdered everyone in the nearby village, making Erid the sole survivor. As a terrible storm is raging outside, other travellers keep fetching up at the inn, including a loudmouth local marshal and his elven sidekick, a hulking hunter, a mysterious vampy woman, and so on. It's like The Hateful Eight but with slightly less ponderous dialogue and crisper editing. The nocturnal time-frame means the darkness can disguise the shonkiness of the visual effects during the sequence when a human character turns into a CGI bear. In the final scenes – in daytime – the purple smoke and CGI lightning looks even cheaper and shonkier, which is in its way sort of endearing. But credit is due to the cast and director Jake Stormoen (who played a character in the earlier films) for serving this up with a surprisingly persuasive gravity and straight faces. You can tell it comes from a place of respect for the franchise's audience. Mythica: Stormbound is on digital platforms from 16 June
