This is a developing story and will be updated as new information becomes available. Last updated Oct. 30 at 8:22 p.m.
Federal prosecutors indicted six individuals, including Illinois’ 9th Congressional District candidate and progressive content creator Kat Abughazaleh, for activities tied to protest at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois.
The charges, filed on Oct. 23 in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, alleged the defendants conspired to “interrupt, hinder, and impede” a federal law enforcement officer from doing his job on Sept. 26.
Sept. 26 was one of many days Abughazaleh protested at the ICE facility in Broadview. At a protest on Sept. 19, congressional candidates Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, Abughazaleh and Gen Z politician Bushra Amiwala were tear-gassed at Broadview, and Abughazaleh was thrown to the ground by ICE agents, according to a video on Bluesky.
The other defendants were Chicago 45th Ward Democratic Committeeperson Michael Rabbitt, Oak Park Village Trustee Brian Straw, Cook County Board candidate Catherine Sharp, as well as individuals Joselyn Walsh and Andre Martin. The indictment identified Martin as someone who worked for or with Abughazaleh.
The indictment’s seven counts alleged the six individuals surrounded a government vehicle driven by the agent, preventing it from proceeding to the Broadview facility. Abughazaleh was named in two of the counts, which alleged she physically “braced her body and hands against the vehicle,” hindering its path to the facility.
In a Department of Homeland Security statement to The Daily, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin wrote that individuals who assault and obstruct law enforcement will be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law — regardless of who they are.”
“(Abughazaleh) is now facing the consequences of her stunt to earn 15 minutes of fame,” McLaughlin wrote Thursday. “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
Abughazaleh took to X in a video on Wednesday, calling the indictment a “gross attempt to silence dissent.”
“This political prosecution is an attack on all of our First Amendment rights,” Abughazaleh wrote on X. “I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win.”
Joshua Herman, Abughazaleh’s attorney, said Abughazaleh will fight the charges with the “same principled determination” as she opposed Trump administration policies at Broadview.
The indictment further alleged the individuals, among others, scratched and “banged aggressively” on the government vehicle, crowded together and pushed against its body. It also alleged that they damaged the vehicle, including etching the word “PIG” on its body and breaking one of the vehicle’s side mirrors and a rear windshield wiper.
If convicted, each defendant could face fines and up to six years in prison for conspiracy to impede an officer. Each defendant is individually charged with impeding, intimidating and interfering with an officer, which can lead to fines and imprisonment for a maximum of one year. If an individual’s actions are deemed to have involved physical contact or an intent to commit another felony, they could be fined and face up to eight years in prison.
Attorney Christopher Parente, who represents Straw, told The Daily the defendants were “hand-selected” due to their status as elected officials or political candidates, making the motivations for an indictment “suspect at best.”
In a separate statement, Straw said the indictment won’t deter him from fulfilling his oath of office and that he “will continue to stand with and protect our immigrant neighbors.”
Sharp’s campaign for Cook County Board released a statement Wednesday afternoon, with her attorney, Molly Armour, calling the charges “ludicrous.”
“As long as ICE is terrorizing members of our community and disregarding due process, I believe we must continue to speak out,” Sharp wrote in the statement.
Walsh’s attorney, Brad Thomson, said Walsh will plead “not guilty” to the “outrageous” charges.
The indictment has sparked outcry among district Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston), who called the “partisan” indictment “an alarming abuse of power” in a statement to The Daily.
“Targeting individuals for exercising their rights is an attack on the very foundation of our democracy,” Schakowsky said in the statement.
In a joint statement Thursday, Abughazaleh’s fellow candidates for the 9th Congressional District, including Biss, Amiwala, State Sen. Laura Fine (D-Glenview), State Sen. Mike Simmons (D-Chicago), State Rep. Hoan Huynh (D-Chicago) and Army veteran Sam Polan, condemned the “partisan and unethical” federal indictments.
“We must stay stronger than ever and never back down to this type of bullying and intimidation,” they said in the statement posted on X.
Several of the candidates had previously spoken out upon learning of the charges on Wednesday.
Biss claimed on X that the only people engaged in “violent and dangerous behavior” at the facility were ICE agents, and that the charges were an effort to “silence dissent and scare residents into submission.”
“I hope these frivolous charges are dropped immediately and Trump begins to listen to the vast majority of Americans who oppose his terror campaign,” Biss wrote.
In a Wednesday afternoon news release, Amiwala paralleled the day’s indictments with U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino’s temporary use-of-force restraining order this week, calling the charges “retaliatory” and the timing of the cases “impossible to ignore.”
Fellow candidate Fine released a statement on X Wednesday, writing that she was “disgusted” by the “partisan and unethical indictments” of Abughazaleh and the five other individuals.
“Today it’s Kat. Tomorrow it could be any of us,” Fine wrote.
Clarification: This article has been updated to more accurately reflect the individuals who the indictment alleges acted to damage the government vehicle.
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— Biss and Abughazaleh neck-and-neck in multi-million dollar Democratic primary
— Biss, Abughazaleh, Amiwala confronted by agents at Broadview ICE protest
