Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - The Cost of Open Borders： Joe Abraham’s Story ｜ The Riley Gaines Show

00:00:00.900 Stuck in that winter slump? Try Dove Men Plus Care Aluminum Free Deodorant.

00:00:05.860 All it takes is a small change to your routine to lift your mood.

00:00:09.240 And it can be as simple as starting your day with the mood-boosting scents of Dove Men Plus Care Aluminum Free Deodorant.

00:00:14.960 It'll keep you feeling fresh for up to 72 hours.

00:00:18.460 And when you smell good, you feel good.

00:00:21.160 Visit Dove.com to learn more.

00:00:22.840 Dove Men Plus Care Aluminum Free Deodorant

00:00:52.840 Democrats' theatrics at the State of the Union.

00:00:55.600 Really, their disdain and their contempt and their hatred, what I would call it, for America and its people.

00:01:01.800 It just makes me so angry.

00:01:03.880 And maybe after today's episode, you'll get a better idea as to why, truthfully, I call it righteous anger.

00:01:11.660 First, before we get into that, I want to tell you about today's sponsor.

00:01:15.100 It's Cozy Earth.

00:01:15.980 I have been trying to do a better job about actually resting, not just going to bed, but resting, sleeping.

00:01:24.040 I did not realize how much what I sleep in actually matters until I started wearing Cozy Earth pajamas and using their sheets.

00:01:31.580 It's their bamboo sheet set.

00:01:33.800 It is made from viscose from bamboo.

00:01:35.980 It is unreal.

00:01:36.840 It's that kind of soft where you put it on and it's like immediately you feel a level of stress just released off of your shoulders.

00:01:43.740 It's lightweight.

00:01:44.420 It's still very cozy.

00:01:45.560 And it doesn't trap heat like cotton does, which as a postpartum mom nursing in the middle of the night, I really value that.

00:01:51.820 They drape well.

00:01:52.640 They feel really well.

00:01:53.860 And their classic cuddle blanket.

00:01:55.980 I have two.

00:01:57.340 I have one downstairs on my couch and one up here in the studio with me, which the studio is actually in my attic.

00:02:02.280 So it's really cold in here when it's cold outside.

00:02:04.380 I love this blanket.

00:02:06.120 It's got like the perfect comforting weight to it.

00:02:09.480 Of course, it's February.

00:02:11.260 And in February, we talk a lot about showing love to other people, but you can show some love to yourself.

00:02:16.800 Highly, highly recommend going to CozyEarth.com, checking out their items, their sleepwear, their loungewear, their classic cuddle blanket.

00:02:24.080 You can use my code GAINS, G-A-I-N-E-S, my last name, for 20% off.

00:02:28.540 You actually have a 100-night sleep trial.

00:02:30.660 You won't need it, but you have it.

00:02:32.320 And a 10-year warranty.

00:02:34.220 So CozyEarth.com, GAINS, for 20% off.

00:02:36.560 If you get a post-purchase survey, be sure to tell them that you heard about it from me.

00:02:41.140 Now, I've had the opportunity to attend a few state of the unions now, both under President Biden and under President Trump.

00:02:47.500 I have seen the performance with my own eyes.

00:02:50.280 Last year, I sat in the gallery as Democrats held up their paddles.

00:02:54.060 Maybe you can remember one side said lie on it or something to the effect.

00:02:58.840 I remember last year, all of the women, the Democratic women, plus Tim McBride, Congressman Tim McBride, actually,

00:03:07.720 showed up wearing pink to symbolize how they stand with women and for women's rights,

00:03:11.780 which is, again, crazy considering these people don't even know how to define a woman.

00:03:16.160 All of that being said, I have never been as absolutely gobsmacked as I was when President Trump asked this to the chamber earlier this week.

00:03:26.500 So tonight, I'm inviting every legislator to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle.

00:03:34.440 If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support.

00:03:39.060 The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. 0.61

00:03:56.620 That is the easiest applause line ever presented in American politics.

00:04:02.380 Yet the Democrats stayed seated. 0.96

00:04:04.440 These are un-American, petulant toddlers. 1.00

00:04:09.060 Quite frankly, I don't really understand how it's not disqualifying for a member of Congress to be unable to pledge allegiance to America,

00:04:18.360 to the country they were elected to serve, and to its citizens.

00:04:21.760 Like, I'm serious.

00:04:22.500 Like, I don't know how that is not treasonous.

00:04:25.120 It seems to me as if that is an act of betrayal.

00:04:29.020 Anyways, Trump, he knew what he was doing in asking this.

00:04:32.500 Really, it was a master class in political chess.

00:04:36.140 The Democrats, they walked right into that trap.

00:04:39.520 Which, that being said, I feel like we can often get wrapped up in who can score the most political points on things like this.

00:04:46.440 But today's guests, and people like Joe Abraham, they live every single day understanding the destructive and deadly nature of the policies that the Democrats stand for.

00:04:58.200 Or I guess in this case, that they do not stand for.

00:05:01.760 Joe Abraham is an angel dad, meaning that he is the dad of a child killed by an illegal alien.

00:05:07.220 Back in January of 2025, so just over a year ago, when his daughter Katie was only 20 years old, the car that she was riding in was rear-ended at nearly 80 miles an hour by a drunk driver.

00:05:19.840 She and another person died.

00:05:22.380 Three others were injured.

00:05:24.320 Katie died immediately.

00:05:26.000 Gone before Joe and her mom ever even had the chance to say goodbye.

00:05:30.240 It was a hit and run.

00:05:31.720 And so the driver fled from the state of Illinois and was later apprehended in Texas, where it was then discovered he was in this country illegally.

00:05:39.860 I've had the honor of meeting Joe in person, and I will just say this, that he is such a fantastic steward of the legacy that Katie leaves behind.

00:05:50.900 I hope you guys enjoy today's episode with angel dad, Joe Abraham.

00:05:56.040 Well, Joe, thank you for joining the Rally Gaines show.

00:05:59.080 I actually gave a little background on Katie and just the unthinkable horrors that your family has faced in the introduction.

00:06:06.620 But before we talk about policy or State of the Union or any of that, can you just tell us about her?

00:06:13.160 Like, who was Katie?

00:06:14.740 Katie was just this, such a bright little person.

00:06:19.560 She was one of these kids, especially, you know, if you think about even back to grade school, she always was, made people feel seen.

00:06:29.660 She used to just get everyone engaged. 1.00

00:06:31.820 She was very sensitive to students that maybe weren't fitting in quite as well.

00:06:38.820 And she would just go out there and try to get them pulled in and never left anyone out.

00:06:43.440 She was really caring and compassionate.

00:06:45.580 But she also was, you know, with all the sports she played, understood fair play and doing things right way and wrong way.

00:06:55.600 She loved the water, Riley.

00:06:57.620 I mean, right from the get-go, our only vacations were to Wisconsin Dells, right?

00:07:03.080 That's basically all we got to do because she just wanted to go where the water was. 0.98

00:07:07.200 She was a swimmer in high school or all the way through and then high school and then a water polo player.

00:07:13.040 She really looked up to people like you who were, you know, excelled in their swimming.

00:07:19.720 And she knew how difficult it was and the commitment you had to put in.

00:07:24.480 And, you know, she was all in and she used to do so great.

00:07:28.180 She loved music.

00:07:29.520 She loved life.

00:07:30.500 She soaked it in like a sponge.

00:07:32.160 She loved people, music, just, you know, getting together with family.

00:07:37.780 And it's such a devastating loss, at least for our family and her friends.

00:07:43.200 She had all these different friend groups, but it's just life just does not feel the same anymore.

00:07:51.480 It's completely without her and her spirit and her laughter and her wit.

00:07:57.280 And she was one of these kids that could read a room all the way through, whether it was adults in the room or kids, she just could understand what was happening and just fit right in.

00:08:10.000 It was kind of amazing to watch her sort of do that.

00:08:13.120 So she's been at a huge, huge loss.

00:08:15.840 And then my father died December 26, 2024.

00:08:21.300 Three weeks later, Katie was killed, January 19, 2025.

00:08:25.040 And those two were like huge characters in the family.

00:08:28.140 So it was a really, really tough time.

00:08:31.520 I, we talked a little bit prior to recording just about faith.

00:08:36.340 And I hope you feel a level of comfort.

00:08:39.520 Obviously, the situation and the circumstance is unimaginable, especially losing two people that you loved and cared for so very deeply.

00:08:46.880 But hopefully there's a level of comfort in knowing that they're together and that one day you will certainly see them again.

00:08:55.900 You mentioned that day in January of 2025.

00:08:59.740 Would you be willing to share just a little bit of what happened and how ultimately you found out?

00:09:06.040 Yeah, she was, her and her, this was a water polo group. 0.78

00:09:11.300 So some of her friends were at University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois.

00:09:16.440 So her and a friend from up north, northern Illinois, went down to visit them and just get together.

00:09:23.740 What 20-year-olds do, college students, right?

00:09:26.060 They just get together, go visit with one another.

00:09:28.080 They were just on the streets of Urbana, Illinois, J.B. Pritzker's Urbana, Illinois, you know, he tells us how safe everything is.

00:09:35.520 They were at a stoplight, idle, and they were smashed in the rear, almost 80 miles an hour.

00:09:45.140 Just, you know, things showed that there was no swerving or braking or trying to avoid it.

00:09:49.960 Just barreled into the back of that car, decimated it, ruined five lives in that car.

00:09:56.260 Katie, unfortunately, you know, first responders, when they got there, they kind of had to pry that car open. 0.97

00:10:04.280 I believe she was already dead when they were pulling her out of the car.

00:10:08.120 One of her friends that she went down with died the next day, and then there were three other injuries.

00:10:13.620 So, you know, he was a illegal alien here illegally.

00:10:18.340 He was a Guatemalan national, but he was using a Mexican national alias.

00:10:23.540 Now, the federal enforcements knew this, but since the state of Illinois is sanctuary, they did no – and even if they did do a background check, they allowed him to roam around Illinois without any issues.

00:10:35.520 So, he fled, right?

00:10:38.320 Riley, think about this.

00:10:39.420 Here's the character that we're standing behind.

00:10:42.460 He decimates five lives in a vehicle.

00:10:46.000 His first instinct is to get out of town, right?

00:10:48.760 So, that was the 19th of January.

00:10:52.300 The 20th, Donald Trump came in, shut down the border, let enforcement do their jobs.

00:10:57.480 They did apprehend him right before he got to the Mexico border.

00:11:00.960 So, he is incarcerated.

00:11:03.400 And by the way, now that he's incarcerated, he's being treated – and this is through – I was at the federal court when they were talking about this.

00:11:09.840 It's in the transcripts.

00:11:11.040 He's now being treated for HIV.

00:11:13.520 So, he had HIV in our communities.

00:11:16.180 Was he as reckless with his HIV?

00:11:18.240 And I'm not making a moral judgment here.

00:11:20.060 What I'm saying is Illinois mismanaged this whole – and consistently, not just our story, everybody's – mismanaged this system so severely, it failed everybody, right?

00:11:30.900 So, they allowed this guy in.

00:11:32.440 He wasn't who he said he was.

00:11:34.200 We don't know how he was making his living.

00:11:36.400 He had HIV in the communities.

00:11:37.940 Illinois didn't try to help him or take care of him, didn't try to help him assimilate.

00:11:42.140 He didn't speak English or Spanish.

00:11:43.800 He spoke Kai Chi.

00:11:45.460 He didn't read or write, never had a formal day of education.

00:11:49.160 And Illinois just kind of left him on his own.

00:11:51.440 Hopefully, he'll spend decades in jail now.

00:11:53.640 So, good for Illinois for ruining kind of everybody in this situation. 0.69

00:11:58.640 So, you know, when he fled, we're thinking, you know, what's happening?

00:12:06.580 All we are – all we're doing is just – kids are on the street.

00:12:10.480 So, detectives called me.

00:12:13.120 And we talked to the detectives, and they said Katie was killed.

00:12:15.960 And you can't imagine.

00:12:17.280 I wish I could explain it.

00:12:18.640 I just think of, you know, being out in a dark wilderness, just wandering, trying to find our new path, our new purpose without Katie.

00:12:27.860 You know, you think you have someone the rest of your life, and the joy of our lives are watching the kids grow and be productive.

00:12:33.660 And that's just been ripped away in such a violent, evil way.

00:12:38.840 So, we're still in that dark place, and we're trying, and we have faith, and we're trying to kind of get to a better place.

00:12:45.560 It's just – she was such a loving, joyous person.

00:12:49.640 It's very difficult.

00:12:50.600 But think about this and the lives that are impacted.

00:12:53.760 So, we couldn't even really process this.

00:12:56.380 The first thing in our minds were like, oh, no, we have to pull ourselves together.

00:13:00.780 Katie and her sister were so close, so close.

00:13:04.040 The minute they woke up to the time they went to bed, they were always together.

00:13:08.160 So, her sister's already texting us.

00:13:10.400 Hey, what's going on?

00:13:11.540 Katie's location's in a police station. 0.90

00:13:13.740 What's happening?

00:13:14.560 She's not responding.

00:13:15.560 I'm getting really worried.

00:13:16.480 Now, Katie's sister's in college, five and a half hours away.

00:13:19.900 So, we have to pull ourselves together, get into a car in a snowstorm, and drive five and a half hours to go talk to her sister to tell her about her, you know, Katie's death.

00:13:29.820 And what haunts me to this day, Riley, is the time we had to walk into her apartment and the reaction we got from her sister that will haunt me the rest of my life.

00:13:43.880 Her reaction and her – you know, that day we held her, we spoke with her, we tried to comfort her, and it will never leave me.

00:13:54.000 It's with me every night.

00:13:55.280 Katie's with me every night.

00:13:56.460 When I wake up, Katie's with me.

00:13:58.280 When I go to sleep, Katie's with me.

00:14:00.360 So, I think with the politicians and these, you know, I think uncaring or dismissive people say, well, you know, crime, whatever crime happens here and there.

00:14:10.400 When it's so preventable, Riley, and it's so impactful that they dismiss us like that, it's so hurtful and it just rubs salt in the wound.

00:14:22.260 These are people that don't have skin in the game, whose North Star is their ideology.

00:14:27.020 They don't get it, you know.

00:14:28.320 And to see Donald Trump to at least step up and say, hey, they're real, they matter, and their lives shouldn't have ended was something that we really do appreciate.

00:14:38.200 I try to put myself in your shoes, I guess, from two standpoints down.

00:14:46.520 Number one, as a new mom, it's just unfathomable, truthfully, like it's unimaginable.

00:14:52.100 And then also as a sister, having sisters myself, hearing that news and how it would just absolutely wreck and upend your life as you knew it, I just, I can't even, there's really no words for that.

00:15:08.580 And, of course, you mentioned Governor Pritzker and this situation and others like yours being entirely mismanaged, which I think is to put it lightly.

00:15:15.760 I understand you sent your governor, who has made Illinois Sanctuary State, a letter with some questions that you wanted answered.

00:15:25.900 You did a fantastic job.

00:15:27.300 I saw an op-ed, actually, and Fox Digital.

00:15:30.400 Can you highlight some of the questions that you had?

00:15:33.340 And I think more importantly, if you ever received a response from Governor Pritzker or his office.

00:15:39.640 So, yes, we sent the letter and it was not ideology.

00:15:44.340 The ideology wasn't the main thrust of that letter.

00:15:47.420 It was just factual questions that we were trying to ask the governor.

00:15:51.420 Because, remember, the governor, you know, at one minute we're in Congress with the governor who completely avoided us, didn't talk to us, didn't spend two seconds, couldn't care less about victims like us.

00:16:02.540 But he was in Congress telling the Republicans, immigration is the federal, you know, responsibility, the enforcement's a federal responsibility.

00:16:13.120 It's not my responsibility.

00:16:14.660 My responsibility is the state of Illinois.

00:16:16.780 But then he turns around and then he nullifies federal law.

00:16:20.480 He just said, it's your responsibility.

00:16:22.340 He nullifies it and clearly has put nothing in its place.

00:16:25.880 He's just, this is a free-for-all in here in Illinois.

00:16:29.160 He's got hundreds of thousands of people he doesn't even know that are roaming around our state.

00:16:33.600 So, some of the questions I really wanted to know were, on both sides, was, what did you do for the people you're, you've kicked the side door open in the middle of the night and you're letting hundreds of thousands of people in.

00:16:46.440 What are you doing for these folks?

00:16:48.200 So, take our guy who killed Katie.

00:16:50.960 Couldn't speak English, couldn't speak Spanish, didn't read or write, never had a day of education, had HIV.

00:16:56.420 What did you do to help this guy?

00:16:58.900 Did you have a system in place that helped him assimilate, understand the language, the culture, what's the right and wrong to do?

00:17:07.180 Did you help him with his disease?

00:17:09.360 Did you try to treat it?

00:17:11.040 Did you try to understand that he was a sick person?

00:17:14.040 There was like nothing.

00:17:15.080 So, those were some of the questions.

00:17:16.620 The other questions were simple, like, hey, how did this guy, by the way, in the police report, had a driver's license number?

00:17:22.840 So, explain to me, just want to understand, a guy who's never, doesn't speak the language, doesn't know the culture, and never had a day of education, how did he pass that driver's test?

00:17:31.220 I took the driver's test, I actually studied for it, right?

00:17:34.420 So then, and then if he's on the road doing the driver's test, how is he understanding the signage and how is he understanding what to do?

00:17:41.380 So, just simple questions like this.

00:17:43.480 So, what, you know, what I got from the governor's office was really nothing, right?

00:17:49.540 Just absolutely zero. 0.97

00:17:51.040 These are arrogant, aloof people.

00:17:54.420 They don't really, they're not accountable to the voters. 0.93

00:17:57.880 Somehow, Riley, there must be something happening.

00:18:00.380 I don't know, maybe there's ballots tied to these illegals that they don't necessarily need the voters.

00:18:05.580 They know certain voters are always going to be behind them due to ideology, and they just need some ballots here and there, and they don't really care about the people.

00:18:13.540 But let's, let me get into something here, Riley, that I rarely talk about, just because I don't, Katie's biological mom was sort of against the operation of Midway Blitz that was named for Katie, which was a targeted operation to remove criminal illegal aliens out of Chicago.

00:18:32.100 So, Katie's mom didn't necessarily agree with Katie's name being tied to that, and I did.

00:18:39.480 So, I allowed them to use her name.

00:18:41.680 So, Katie's mom did write an op-ed that said, I'm not real thrilled with this, that type of thing.

00:18:48.880 So, the governor's office, the only response they gave was, you don't have the full story, Fox Digital, because they reached out to them for a comment.

00:18:57.420 The mom, here's an op-ed the mom wrote.

00:19:00.120 Now, the mom didn't write about immigration in general and the lack of responsible policies, nothing like that.

00:19:07.880 It was just this targeted operation.

00:19:09.920 So, that's what they sent to the reporter.

00:19:13.060 Now, think about this, Riley.

00:19:14.160 You have a governor whose supposed responsibilities is citizens.

00:19:18.500 He is hiding behind a grieving mom who disagreed with one operation?

00:19:24.260 That's why he won't talk to me?

00:19:25.820 I can't get this figured out.

00:19:27.240 So, he has not reached out to me father-to-father like Donald Trump has.

00:19:31.100 President Trump looked me in the eye father-to-father, talked to me about it.

00:19:36.000 So, this is our, you know, strong, tough governor, you know, and he's going to hide behind a grieving mom.

00:19:43.180 It's amazing to me how he sort of gets away with some of the things and is unresponsive to his own citizens.

00:19:50.240 I am still a citizen.

00:19:51.700 I have simple questions and you need to respond to those.

00:19:56.000 But as of today, I've got nothing back.

00:19:57.900 It's a good point you make and it was something I thought of in watching the State of the Union where you had, I think, the most telling moment of any State of the Union in history when President Trump asked directly,

00:20:11.420 if you agree with this statement stand, the American government's first priority is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens, and not a single, well, maybe Fetterman stood, but virtually the entirety of the Democratic Party sat down.

00:20:25.820 And it was something I thought, you know, how could they do this?

00:20:30.860 But the thought crossed my mind, maybe they don't want to disparage their voting base and who is their voting base, especially in states like California.

00:20:39.760 We actually just had Nick Shirley on the last episode and talking about California voter fraud that's happening there.

00:20:44.860 So maybe they don't want to disparage their voting base.

00:20:49.760 I mean, is there really any other reason?

00:20:51.460 Do you think these people, people like Pritzker, really believe this because they love words like compassion and empathy?

00:20:59.400 But what happened to you and your family and other families like yours?

00:21:05.040 It's not compassionate at all.

00:21:08.240 No, you're right on target there.

00:21:11.320 It's a one-sided compassion, I'd say.

00:21:13.460 To your point, they care about their new voting bloc, I guess, and the citizens are sort of left to, they're just being taken advantage of.

00:21:24.020 So, yeah, he's not a caring man.

00:21:26.500 He's not a compassionate man.

00:21:27.980 The Illinois legislature think they're doing all the right things.

00:21:31.740 But really, if you think about the way the whole system fails, you know, you nullify federal law and you add no guardrails.

00:21:40.560 You just fail everyone.

00:21:42.060 You fail the victims and you continue to re-victimize them.

00:21:45.420 And then you also fail the ones coming in.

00:21:48.020 You don't, you know, there's no shame in vetting because your responsibility is the citizens of your state first.

00:21:53.800 And you don't give special privileges or sacrifice one group of people for another, right?

00:22:01.220 You don't give special privileges here because you think it's going to benefit you because you're politically self-interested while you sacrifice another group.

00:22:09.960 Because not everyone dies, Riley.

00:22:12.380 Not every victim's a death like Katie.

00:22:14.520 Katie certainly got the death sentence with these policies. 1.00

00:22:18.560 But there are so many victims that, and then the families of these victims, and there are just so many that are out there.

00:22:25.300 And they are so cavalier in their response.

00:22:28.620 Like, it's, they want to erase us.

00:22:31.100 It's so inconvenient for them.

00:22:32.960 They want us to go away.

00:22:34.340 They want to make us invisible.

00:22:35.560 And that's, that must be the reason why, Riley, that he has not responded to me as father-to-father, citizen-to-governor, because this would upset his voting base, I think.

00:22:47.740 There's no real rational understanding why a governor of a state wouldn't speak to a citizen of his state.

00:22:54.260 A lifelong Illinoisan, and I know how corrupt the state is, but they always had some kind of guardrails to it.

00:23:00.660 But right now, there's just nothing.

00:23:02.840 And then the governor just dismisses you.

00:23:05.080 The disrespect he showed, Katie, is so disgusting to me.

00:23:09.840 And to your point, at the State of the Union, you can't stand up for some of these simple ideals.

00:23:15.220 It's so odd to me.

00:23:16.840 I don't really understand exactly what's going on.

00:23:19.400 But we've got some evil folks running things.

00:23:22.800 Yeah, that's truth. 0.98

00:23:24.660 Really cowards, I think, is what they are.

00:23:27.460 I think if you were to ask them one-on-one, and I think this is probably why Governor Pritzker doesn't want to meet with you. 0.95

00:23:32.900 Because maybe deep down, he agrees with you, but he's too much of a coward, or maybe there's too much money behind it, or he's too obsessed with his powerful position that he's in to actually be able to admit it to you.

00:23:45.040 But I don't think he could look you in the eyes and tell you that he doesn't. 0.99

00:23:48.260 So they're just, they're cowards.

00:23:51.160 But you said President Trump, he has been a fantastic advocate in carrying on the voices and the legacies and the stories of people like Katie.

00:23:59.120 You were just at the White House for his angel family's remembrance ceremony.

00:24:05.020 In that, have you been able to, events like this, the position that you're in, have you been able to connect with other families who have experienced similar loss?

00:24:17.720 Yeah, it's very sad.

00:24:19.580 You know, the Democrats try to make it sound like this is not a real thing.

00:24:25.280 And the number of angel families we have met along the way in this awful journey we're in is so heartbreaking, honestly.

00:24:34.860 And even the survivors of some of these crimes, like these kids that are, you know, in wheelchairs now and all preventable, just with some rational policy and coherent policy and not radical extreme one-sided policies, you wouldn't have this, right?

00:24:55.940 This isn't about, well, everyone drunk drives and, you know, citizens do this and, you know, citizens create more crime.

00:25:02.080 This is not an argument.

00:25:04.300 This is, what you're saying is if you take it to the logical end, we have drunk drivers in America, so we should bring in more drunk drivers.

00:25:12.680 We have crime in America, so we should bring in more crime.

00:25:16.060 And to romanticize people from a third world country, we are immigrants.

00:25:19.940 My parents came from a third world country.

00:25:22.860 And they would be the first ones to tell you, you cannot romanticize.

00:25:26.460 You cannot, there's not 100% purity in the people coming from third world countries. 1.00

00:25:31.580 And this is just naive to believe that.

00:25:35.040 And so, yes, you should have some amount of vetting and health screens and understand who's coming into the country.

00:25:43.240 Are we, how it's become so immoral to be lawful and follow rules and it's moral to, you know, do the opposite.

00:25:54.680 For example, really rushing the border with millions of people, a free-for-all people die.

00:26:00.000 You know, where were the same people in Minnesota down at the border saying, wait a minute, children are being lost.

00:26:05.340 They're being exploited.

00:26:06.400 The cartels have a new billion-dollar industry moving people around.

00:26:10.600 People are dying in the journey.

00:26:12.180 People are getting raped, robbed.

00:26:14.100 I mean, where were they?

00:26:15.940 This is only, you know, they talk about two people up in Minnesota who put themselves in a very bad position.

00:26:21.400 They're partly responsible for that.

00:26:23.540 Should anyone die?

00:26:24.440 No.

00:26:25.180 But they were partly responsible for their, unlike, say, Katie, who was just an innocent person on the streets.

00:26:30.180 They don't care about her.

00:26:31.480 They didn't care about these same people when they were rushing the border and being taken advantage of and exploited.

00:26:37.140 So this is all ideology.

00:26:39.040 It's very sad to watch these people who have just one North Star and all that is is their politics.

00:26:44.880 It's a sad life, I think, for them.

00:26:46.920 They're missing so much by behaving in this way.

00:26:52.380 Yeah, for even calling those things out, for drawing attention to the fact that over 300,000 children were missing under President Biden's open border policies.

00:27:02.180 For even calling things like that out, you and I are called, like, right-wing extremists.

00:27:07.960 And that's probably one of the kinder things that they call us.

00:27:11.780 I guess with that being said, do you ever worry about Katie's name being used politically?

00:27:20.020 And, like, how do you navigate that?

00:27:22.560 So I do.

00:27:23.700 I do.

00:27:24.460 I do.

00:27:25.180 I absolutely think about that.

00:27:27.420 And, like, when DHS came to us and said they wanted to use Katie's name, I, you know, we asked a bunch of questions.

00:27:35.660 We talked to dozens and dozens of ICE agents, support staff, leadership.

00:27:42.800 This wasn't something we went in haphazardly.

00:27:45.180 We did some research.

00:27:46.380 You know, then we really assessed, at least I assessed, like, okay, what would Katie, Katie would absolutely have rejected the way she died.

00:27:57.320 Now, she was a compassionate person, but she knew fair play.

00:28:00.760 This wasn't fair play.

00:28:01.960 She didn't have a chance, right, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and someone being supported by the state that really should have, there should have been some guardrails there.

00:28:12.440 So I said yes.

00:28:15.080 At the end of the day, I said, I think this is a good thing.

00:28:17.200 Katie, this is going to save lives.

00:28:19.200 And it's going to be unfortunate because people won't understand that there are lives and victims being saved here because it's not tangible.

00:28:27.540 The criminals are gone.

00:28:29.180 The crimes won't happen.

00:28:30.580 So you can't see that, right?

00:28:32.260 So that's always a tough thing to sell, right, because you're doing the right things.

00:28:37.520 Now, the other thing was it's so disheartening.

00:28:40.260 Not only were we, you know, erased or ignored, when we were in June 2025 at the Oversight Committee hearing, J.B. Pritzker's, his utter contempt and disrespect towards Katie changed my – that's the day, honestly, the light went on and said,

00:28:59.880 oh, I get it, these people are awful, they're self-serving, they don't care, they want to be just – they're all power.

00:29:09.500 That's the only thing they care about.

00:29:11.360 And that's why I started speaking out.

00:29:12.940 I'm like, Katie's name is better than this.

00:29:15.060 And she should know – people should know who she is because she is way better than any of these folks.

00:29:19.940 So that's what kind of changed to me.

00:29:22.040 But we do.

00:29:22.740 We don't do everything.

00:29:23.940 And I'm not out there always looking for it, but I'll certainly talk to anyone that wants to talk about Katie and the tragedy that happened to her.

00:29:31.880 But honestly, I want to see some accountability.

00:29:34.980 People like me, Orkis is of the world and the prior administration that orchestrated this type of chaos.

00:29:41.620 Why are they not being held to account?

00:29:44.020 Why do we have to – and all these angel families and victims – have to suffer while they sort of ride off in the sunset and live their great lives?

00:29:55.340 Personally, I don't know how they sleep at night.

00:29:57.480 There's clearly no conscience there with all the blood on their hands.

00:30:01.580 But, you know, meanwhile, we don't sleep.

00:30:03.600 I mean, I can tell you a story.

00:30:04.940 After she died, I used to have these vivid dreams, Riley, just like it was her and I together.

00:30:11.520 Again, I could hold her.

00:30:13.160 And there were times I would just want to go to sleep because I want to see her.

00:30:17.160 And your mind plays these tricks on you because then you wake up and you think she's alive and it starts that cycle all over again.

00:30:24.320 And some nights you don't sleep.

00:30:27.480 I went a couple nights not sleeping because I didn't want to go through that hurt again.

00:30:31.380 So you sleep and you get these vivid dreams.

00:30:34.620 Now, those dreams stopped late May last year.

00:30:37.840 She came to me as vivid as I'm talking to you.

00:30:40.360 She hugged me.

00:30:41.680 She kissed me.

00:30:42.360 We were both crying.

00:30:43.580 And she says, I'm okay.

00:30:45.640 And I've never seen her in my dreams since.

00:30:47.920 It's just a psychological, the psychological warfare of that, that you and your family and families like yours are left to deal with is, is it shows how it extends beyond even just the victims to their families as well.

00:31:07.280 And so I guess kind of wrapping up here is accountability.

00:31:12.500 What does that look like and policies that you are advocating for on behalf of Katie and on behalf of American citizens, quite frankly?

00:31:22.180 What do those two things look like to you?

00:31:25.400 Well, I think first the sanctuary cities and states have to have to stop.

00:31:31.100 You want immigration? 0.95

00:31:32.840 That's fine.

00:31:33.400 You want to nullify federal law?

00:31:35.400 Fine.

00:31:35.680 Put in a front-end process to at least vet people and at least help them and then help the communities, right?

00:31:42.400 And because what's happening now on the back end after you've completely messed up the front end, people like Donald Trump and Tom Holman and Todd Lyons, they have to clean up this mess and it will never look good.

00:31:54.580 But they ought to do it.

00:31:55.540 It needs to be done.

00:31:56.400 So I would like to see those policies revamped, got rid of, and have some kind of rational, not radical extreme policies that we have today.

00:32:05.920 Accountability-wise, I would love to see why people like New York is, who is this insidious person, who did this on purpose.

00:32:14.140 And there are probably others.

00:32:15.280 I can't really say Joe Biden.

00:32:16.960 I don't think he was there.

00:32:18.840 But it was people behind the throne there that were creating this chaos.

00:32:24.040 And then the J.B. Pritzkers of the world.

00:32:26.220 Why does he get off clean, scot-free with all this chaos and death in our state?

00:32:33.640 Here's a guy who's in Chicago who says, well, we only have 400 or 500 deaths a year.

00:32:37.760 That's not so bad.

00:32:38.980 Can you imagine?

00:32:39.740 This is what our governor says.

00:32:41.040 He ought to just go away.

00:32:42.800 He's never been an impressive guy.

00:32:44.860 He's inherited.

00:32:45.740 You know, we talk about this.

00:32:47.200 He was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.

00:32:49.900 And what has he really done? 0.93

00:32:51.680 If you look at some of the tapes he's got with Begojevich, he's a corrupt guy.

00:32:55.840 He hasn't really done anything.

00:32:57.280 He's inherited everything.

00:32:58.980 I promise you this, Riley.

00:33:00.160 Our family, every dollar we had has been earned and earned the hard way.

00:33:05.920 Nothing was ever given to us.

00:33:07.620 My father used to actually tell me, if I ever accepted anything from this beautiful country

00:33:13.360 and this government, I would hang myself in the garage before I would do that.

00:33:17.600 They offered us so much opportunity and he took advantage of that and he did the right

00:33:22.200 things.

00:33:23.400 And then you have these people that do everything wrong and there's just no accountability.

00:33:28.500 What I'd love to see is some people going to jail because I don't think if anything's

00:33:32.280 going to stop unless people are being behind bars.

00:33:35.980 Let's be honest with you.

00:33:36.920 Now, is that ever going to happen?

00:33:38.620 They protect themselves, the politicians, so I don't hold my breath on it.

00:33:43.120 But there's got to be some type of accountability.

00:33:45.880 And I don't think we're done looking into that.

00:33:48.040 I mean, we were in Congress on Tuesday.

00:33:49.740 We were talking to some of the chairmen and the legislatures to talk about what can we

00:33:54.280 do from a legislative standpoint, retroactively, that we can hold some of these people responsible.

00:34:00.560 I don't know.

00:34:01.320 I'm hoping something like that would happen.

00:34:03.000 I'm so glad you mentioned Mayorkas because I think he is one of the most just smug people, 1.00

00:34:10.740 at least that I have witnessed, served in a government role in my lifetime.

00:34:15.480 One of the most smug people.

00:34:17.240 I'm so glad you mentioned him.

00:34:18.600 And I agree with you on Biden where, yes, of course, he takes a lot of blame and there's

00:34:22.180 always fingers pointed back at him.

00:34:24.320 But there were other people, I believe, running these operations.

00:34:27.820 And, you know, in talking to you, me and my husband, we've gotten to experience a lot

00:34:35.220 of firsts this year with our daughter being born last September.

00:34:39.000 So, of course, we had our first Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas, and those are

00:34:43.620 very joyous moments for us.

00:34:45.240 But in thinking about the first that you and your family had this year, it makes me feel

00:34:54.920 a lot more grateful for the first that we had.

00:34:59.480 And so in continuing to honor Katie's legacy, I imagine that you will continue speaking.

00:35:05.020 And you do.

00:35:06.060 You are such a good steward of her and that legacy she leaves behind.

00:35:11.480 What can we do as everyday people?

00:35:14.040 I really, what I would love to see, and especially in Illinois as I live here, but really across

00:35:20.900 the country, just some, you know, this one-sided, not only compassion, but to really understand,

00:35:31.240 don't put everything you have into political leaders.

00:35:36.400 They are very self-interested.

00:35:39.880 If you think of Governor Pritzker, Illinois is not his goal, right?

00:35:44.380 He's looking for other things.

00:35:46.800 So, for example, the Renee Goods of the world.

00:35:49.680 Why are you putting yourself out there, your life on the line, you have children at home

00:35:53.260 for corrupt, self-serving politicians?

00:35:58.060 I just want this country to take a breath and people like Pritzker and the voters to take

00:36:03.900 a pause and really look at what they're doing as far as policy and how it affects this nation.

00:36:11.420 We can do better and we must do better.

00:36:14.200 We have kids and mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and they ought to be policies that

00:36:22.240 protect the people in your nation first.

00:36:25.260 That doesn't mean, again, to your point earlier, you said they're racists and bigots.

00:36:29.640 You know, the false choice isn't unlimited, unvetted immigration or you're a racist and 0.97

00:36:35.200 a bigot.

00:36:35.700 Put something in that's rational and then have that moving forward.

00:36:40.740 Do it the right way, not the wrong way.

00:36:42.580 This was not an orderly right way.

00:36:44.640 And anyone who believes that is just, again, their North Stars, their ideology.

00:36:49.360 And that's just, I'm sorry, that's not good enough.

00:36:51.300 Yeah, their ideology is their religion, but fortunately for people like you and I, at

00:36:59.440 least as I understand it, I think we both understand that we're on this planet for such

00:37:05.540 a short little blip of time and we fight for the hope and the promise of eternal life.

00:37:10.540 And there's comfort and there's security in that and strength.

00:37:14.520 And I think you embody those things.

00:37:16.600 And so thank you, Joe, for coming on to talk about Katie.

00:37:20.820 Just really special to hear.

00:37:23.620 Riley, I appreciate you so much.

00:37:25.380 Thank you for having me and letting me talk about Katie.

00:37:28.140 She was such a great person and, you know, just a tremendous loss.

00:37:31.580 I really think this world and this state is just a less place without her in it.

00:37:36.760 Well, I agree.

00:37:38.280 So thank you, Joe.

00:37:39.540 Thank you.

00:37:46.600 Thank you.

00:37:47.600 Thank you.

00:37:48.600 Thank you.

Gaines for Girls with Riley Gaines - February 27, 2026

The Cost of Open Borders： Joe Abraham’s Story ｜ The Riley Gaines Show

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript