Joe Abraham, the newly appointed executive director of ICE's Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office, has publicly criticized a hypothetical scenario posted on social media by Jon Favreau, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama. Abraham, whose daughter Katie was killed in a 2025 hit-and-run by an undocumented immigrant, stated that Favreau's post, which imagined masked agents taking his own young son to a detention center, displayed a lack of empathy for victims of crimes committed by undocumented individuals.
In a response posted online, Abraham wrote, "I know exactly what it feels like when your daughter goes off to a university to visit friends and NEVER comes home." He recounted the 2025 incident in Illinois where his daughter, Katie Abraham, died after being struck by a drunk driver. Julio Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national, later pleaded guilty to charges including aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death and leaving the scene of a fatal crash, receiving a 30-year sentence.
Abraham, who has become an advocate for victims of crimes by undocumented immigrants, questioned the selective nature of compassion. "So when I hear selective appeals to compassion, I have to ask: where was the compassion for Katie? Where is it for her family? Katie is in a grave. I'll never see her again," he stated. He concluded that "selective compassion isn't compassion. It's ideology wearing a compassionate face."
The exchange gained significant attention online, with Abraham's post receiving over 150,000 views. His hiring as the head of the VOICE office was announced the same day Favreau's post was published.
The Trump Administration has linked Abraham's subsequent activism to Operation Midway Blitz, a federal immigration enforcement operation in the Chicago area conducted from September to December 2025. However, Katie Abraham's mother, Denise Lorence, has previously expressed that the Trump Administration publicized her daughter's case without her consent, stating in April that "Her death should not serve as fuel and cover for the Trump Administration's political cover. It's time to finally let Katie rest in peace."
Abraham, in accepting his new role, expressed his commitment to ensuring victims and their families are heard and treated with dignity. "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 wrote. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis praised the appointment, calling Abraham the "perfect choice" to help families who have lost loved ones due to immigration-related incidents.
The VOICE office was re-established by the Trump Administration in 2025 after being closed by the Biden administration in 2021. The Trump administration has had ongoing disputes with Illinois, a sanctuary state, regarding its policies on undocumented immigrants.