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A progressive Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives and several other Chicago officials are facing federal charges stemming from protests outside an Immigration Customs and Enforcement facility that has emerged as a flashpoint for demonstrations against Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist now running for a House seat in Illinois, is charged with conspiracy to impede or injure an ICE office and assault. The grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday accuses Abughazaleh and five other defendants, some of whom are involved in Chicago politics, of banging “aggressively” on a federal agent’s car, forcing the officer to drive at an “extremely slow rate of speed,” and etching the word “PIG” on the vehicle. The charges — among the most severe yet against protesters under Trump’s Department of Justice — carry prison sentences of up to six years in prison for conspiracy and eight years for assault, if convicted. “This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt to silence dissent, a right protected under the First Amendment,” Abughazaleh said on social media after the indictment was unsealed. The Trump administration has sought to “criminalize protest and punish anyone who speaks out against them,” said Abughazaleh, who is vowing to fight the “unjust charges” against them. Abughazaleh, 26, formerly worked for right-wing media watchdog Media Matters before entering the House race for Illinois’ 9th district, which encompasses parts of Chicago and its suburbs. She has joined hundreds of demonstrators outside the Broadview ICE detention center as the Trump administration surged federal law enforcement officers and the National Guard into Illinois. Videos of her interactions with officers at the scene — including incidents where she is shoved to the ground and beat in the face with a baton — have been shared widely across social media, including by the Department of Homeland Security. In one video from September 19, a masked, heavily armed and armed officer in military fatigues is seen grabbing Abughazaleh before throwing her to the ground. “Individuals and groups impeding ICE operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals,” DHS wrote on X. In another video from September 26, Abughazaleh and dozens other protesters are seen holding on to the front of an SUV as it inches into the crowd standing on the street outside the Broad view facilities. “At the Broadview ICE facility, an ICE agent tried to run dozens of protesters over with an SUV as we walked on a public crosswalk,” she wrote at the time. “He kept driving for about a full football field until ICE barraged us with pepper balls.” The charges follow weeks of demonstrations across the Chicago area, where ICE and border patrol agents are blocked from indiscriminate use of force against protesters and members of the press. A federal judge has issued a court order prohibiting officers from using riot control weapons like tear gas and pepper balls without warning. The order also specifically block officers from firing munitions that “strike the head, neck, groin, spine, or female breast, or striking any person with a vehicle,” as well as “pulling or shoving a person to the ground, tackling, or body slamming” demonstrators who aren’t harming others. This is a developing story
