There is something different about debating government after you have experienced what happens when it fails.

For me, that lesson began with the death of my daughter, Katie.

Today, as the Trump administration works to restore enforcement, strengthen accountability and prevent the kinds of failures that can produce tragedies like ours, I have also seen the importance of giving victims and their families a voice within the system. The Department of Homeland Security's Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement, or VOICE, office has helped our family navigate an awful process that no family should ever have to understand.

That perspective has changed the way I think about public policy. I no longer see these debates simply as arguments over laws or political philosophies. I see them through the people who ultimately live with their consequences.

Most political debates begin with policies.

I have come to believe they should begin somewhere else.

They should begin with governing philosophy.

Policies rise and fall. Administrations come and go. Campaign promises are made and forgotten. But the way leaders understand the role of government often endures long after a single election has passed.

That realization came through living in Illinois, and eventually through losing my daughter.

As a lifelong Illinois resident, I have watched my home state change over decades. It did not happen through one election, one governor or one dramatic piece of legislation. It happened gradually, as ideas once considered outside the political mainstream increasingly influenced public policy. Public policy reshaped institutions. Institutions reshaped political culture.........

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