By John Kass

November 5^th, 2025

See the old man with the kindly eyes? There’s nothing kindly about them. And there’s nothing kind about what’s waiting for you and your family out on the highways. Just listen:

On November 8, 1994 there was a light drizzle and fog on the Illinois expressways and up into Wisconsin. It was fall. Temperatures were in the 40s.

Now think of the Willis family packed into the family van, six kids and parents on the expressway near Milwaukee.  The father, my friend Scott Willis, a Christian pastor from Mt. Greenwood, was driving. His wife Janet was in the seat next to him.

They had just voted Republican for their candidate for governor, Illinois Secretary of State, George Ryan. They liked Ryan.

“I was looking at the road and was alert,” Scott recalled. “Our little baby (Peter) was behind us. Our son Ben was behind us on the other side. I saw the object (a metal brace) I thought.

He thought it was one of those blocks that maybe came off a flatbed truck. The car in front of him swerved, and he knew he couldn’t miss hitting the object.

“I thought if I took it on the tire I might roll the car,” he said. “It was a split-second decision. When we hit the object, the rear gas tank exploded, taking the car out of control.”

He recalled that he was able to grip the wheel and take the car out of the slide. Flames were coming around the seat, it was a shock—a surprise.

“Like what is this?” he said. “It was just roaring flames coming up on both sides.”

Scott and Janet suffered serious burns but survived. Five of the six Willis children died instantly:  Joe Willis, age 11; Sam Willis, age 9; Hank Willis, age 7 Elizabeth Willis, age 3 Peter Willis, 6 weeks old. Benjamin Willis, 13 (died the next day).

It turned out that the truck driver, Riccardo Guzman, paid bribes to Ryan’s office for his commercial driver’s license. The trailer hitch assembly was hanging from the truck. Other drivers beeped at him and tried to get his attention, but he was oblivious. He couldn’t speak English to pass a test for a commercial driver’s license. But he knew enough to pay a bribe to Ryan’s office to get his license.

Years before he was indicted, others in Ryan’s office knew bribes had been paid.

On the morning of the accident, the driver, Riccardo Guzman, ignored repeated warnings from other drivers that there was a large piece of metal that was going to fall off the back of his truck.

The Willis kids were burned alive, and the corruption in Illinois ran so deep that anyone daring to mention the Willis family were open to the shrews and screaming harpies that defend the corrupt. Among them were Republicans from the Illinois Combine–the bi-partisan gang of political insiders who’ve run the state into the ground.

I personally know this to be true. I lived through it. So did many of you who’ve been reading my columns through the years.

The political corruption overwhelmed those trying to shine a light on it, including “crusading” newspapers. All were infected. And the Ryan Republicans, part of the Illinois Combine, had no shame.
Illinois, the most politically corrupt state in the union, shamed itself again, when Ryan was convicted.

“It should be something of a medieval circus,” I wrote after his long-overdue conviction in 2007, writing for ‘the paper’ that would shame itself again and again.

“But he won’t be in a wooden cart, face exposed, to be pelted with rotten vegetables and the loud epithets of the mob. He’ll most likely be in the back of a van.

” …There’s no way around this. The shame belongs to all of us who live in Illinois.

Why write about this now, decades after the fact?

Because I really can’t let it go. I’m a father. Betty and I know Scott and Janet. They’ve come to our house for picnics and to watch the boys play baseball. We’ve had our kids on that same highway, in a van. The kids singing songs, my wife singing with them. I can’t let it go.

And there’s another reason:

It’s  happening again, with thousands and thousands of illegals—protected by Sanctuary States like California and Illinois—obtaining commercial driver’s licenses with your wives and children out on the roads. They can’t read the road signs. And they’re diving big rigs. How did they get here? They got here over or through or under the border wall. The Biden Democrats let this happen. You know this.

But how do they get truck licenses when they can’t speak English? Common sense tells me they pay bribes, like Guzman did. And sanctuary states protecting leftist policies protect them.

For example, the Florida Turnpike Crash of August 2025 happened when Harjinder Singh, an illegal immigrant from India, was driving a semi-truck when he allegedly made an illegal U-turn on an “Official Use Only” access point of the Florida Turnpike. A minivan carrying three people collided with the jackknifed truck’s trailer, killing all three occupants.

Investigations revealed Singh had been issued a CDL by both California and Washington states despite reportedly failing English proficiency and road sign tests multiple times. He was arrested in California after fleeing Florida the day after the crash and is charged with three counts of vehicular homicide.

And there was the California Interstate 10 Crash (October 2025)

when Jashanpreet Singh, another undocumented immigrant from India, caused a fiery eight-vehicle pileup on Interstate 10 in San Bernardino County, California, killing three people. Authorities determined he was under the influence of drugs at the time and failed to apply the brakes before slamming into slow-moving traffic at high speed. He was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

And the Indiana Crash (October 2025): when an illegal alien from Serbia and Montenegro, Borko Stankovic, caused a multi-vehicle accident in Portage, Indiana, that killed Jeffrey Eberly.

Stankovic was driving a semi-truck with a suspended CDL that belonged to a family member. 

How does it work?

“Illegal aliens shouldn’t be in America, and they especially shouldn’t be driving 80,000-pound trucks on our roads. “We can’t underestimate the importance of reading English, understanding it, speaking it, and being serious about road safety.” – Director of the Heritage Border and Immigration Center Lora Ries | The Heritage Foundation | Facebook

Under current U.S. regulations, asylum applicants can apply for a work authorization document with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) five months after their asylum application is filed (rather than five months after it’s granted). There’s no filing fee for asylum applications—meaning there is literally no cost involved in applying.

This creates a huge incentive for inadmissible aliens to file fraudulent asylum applications to gain U.S. work authorization.

And while adjudicating the asylum application can take DHS or the Justice Department years to complete, the DHS prioritizes granting employment authorization applications, averaging mere months to complete such applications.

 

But they’re on the road right now, in that big truck coming up behind you. as you drive over to grandma’s house for Thanksgiving. You might think of your families. You might also think of the politicians who want you silent.

And think of the Willis children.

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(Copyright 2025 John Kass)

About the author: John Kass spent decades as a political writer and news columnist in Chicago working at a major metropolitan newspaper. He is co-host of The Chicago Way podcast. And he just loves his “No Chumbolone” hat, because johnkassnews.com is a “No Chumbolone” Zone where you can always get a cup of common sense.

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