I lost my daughter to sanctuary policies. My senators are too cowardly to talk to me

My family and I are lifelong Illinoisans. We are now living each day with the consequences of what I believe are misguided sanctuary city and state policies in our state. Our top government leaders—Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, along with Democratic Gov. —have supported these policies, often without what many would consider meaningful guardrails. Too often there has been no direct engagement from any of these leaders or acknowledgment of the victims who live with the real-world consequences of sanctuary polices.

My daughter Katie was killed at age 20 on January 19, 2025, in an incident that should never have happened. She and four of her friends were stopped at a red light in Urbana when they were rear-ended at nearly 80 miles per hour. The driver—previously deported, driving drunk, operating under an alias, and with a record that raised serious concerns—was able to remain in the country and on the road.

The impact was so severe that first responders had to pry Katie and the other girls from the wreckage. Katie was killed at the scene. Another young woman died in the hospital the next day. The three others in the car suffered serious injuries. What should have been an ordinary moment at a traffic light became an irreversible tragedy.

That is the reality behind what are often abstract policy debates, including those surrounding sanctuary city and state policies.

At the end of March, I encountered that disconnect firsthand.

On March 25, 2026, I traveled to Washington, D.C. to testify before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. Sen. Durbin—one of —was part of that broader committee process. Yet it was my other senator, Tammy Duckworth, whom I encountered outside the hearing rooms at the U.S. Capitol.

I introduced myself and explained why I was there. I told her about my daughter—an innocent victim in a case that raises serious questions about sanctuary city and state policies she has supported.

Her response surprised me. She told me that she was unaware of Katies story.

Unaware. Fourteen months after her death, a United States senator, who represents me in Congress, was still unfamiliar with an incident that profoundly affected one of her constituents.

I chose not to explain my situation further at that moment—not out of disrespect, but out of principle.

have a responsibility to understand the real-world impact of the policies they support. That responsibility should not fall only on grieving families.

I told Sen. Duckworth that if she wanted to better understand my situation, she could take the time to learn about what happened and reach out to me directly. I would be open to that conversation.

What followed were calls from the senators staff offering condolences, and later a request for my email address so the senator could send a letter. I declined. A form letter, while perhaps well-intentioned, is not the same as direct engagement or a meaningful effort to understand.

At this point, I remain open to a genuine conversation with Sen. Duckworth, though experience makes it difficult to predict if that will ever happen.

Unfortunately, this was not an isolated experience.

For more than 14 months, Sen. Durbin has not publicly acknowledged Katies story—no statement, no outreach, no recognition.

That silence continued even when I sat just feet away from him during a for over two hours last month. During that time, Katie was not mentioned or explained by him —even as other senators took a moment to recognize her life.

That absence is difficult to understand.

For years, Illinois officials have supported sanctuary city and state policies with an avowed emphasis on compassion and protection. Those goals matter. But what is often missing from the discussion is a ful