Democratic contender for Congress indicted over Chicago ICE protests | Illinois
Kat Abughazaleh, a progressive congressional candidate, was indicted on federal charges related to her participation in protests outside an ICE processing plant near Chicago in September.
The indictment, filed last week, alleges that the 26-year-old Palestinian-American candidate and five other individuals “physically hindered and hindered” a federal agent who was “forced to drive at an extremely slow speed to avoid injuring one of the conspirators.”
Abughazaleh, running in Illinois’ Ninth Congressional District to replace incumbent Democrat Jan Schakowsky, was charged with conspiring to forcibly obstruct or injure a federal agent, and assaulting or obstructing the agent while he was carrying out his official duties.
According to the indictment, the group “conspired among themselves and with others, known and unknown, to prevent by force, intimidation and threats, Agent A, a law enforcement officer of the United States, from carrying out his duties.”
He alleged that Abghazaleh, along with the other individuals, “aggressively struck” the officer’s vehicle, “congregated at the front and sides” of the vehicle and “pushed against the vehicle to obstruct and obstruct his movements.”
According to the indictment, the group carved the word “pig” into the vehicle and broke a side mirror and a rear windshield wiper. He also claimed that Abghazaleh “specifically joined the crowd at the front of the government vehicle and, with his hands on the hood, pressed his body and hands against the vehicle while remaining directly in the path of the vehicle, obstructing and obstructing” the officer.
Following the indictment, Abughazaleh, known for her large social media platform on which she frequently criticizes Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, called the indictment a “political prosecution.”
“This is a crude attempt to silence dissent, a right protected by the First Amendment. This case is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish those who dare to speak out. That’s why I will fight these unjust charges,” she said.
Abughazaleh added: “While I and others exercised our First Amendment rights, ICE punched, dragged, threw, pepper-balled, and tear-gassed hundreds of protesters, including me. Simply because we had the nerve to say that masked men kidnapping our neighbors and terrorizing our community cannot be the new normal.
“This case is about our rights to protest, to speak freely, and to associate with anyone who disagrees with this government…I have spent my career fighting America’s slide toward fascism and I am not going to give up now,” she continued.
The indictment comes as the Trump administration steps up federal immigration raids in many progressive cities, including Chicago — a move that has been harshly criticized by local and state leaders.
The raids have drawn widespread opposition from the public, Democratic lawmakers in Congress and civil rights groups, with the ACLU describing them as a “construction of a national paramilitary police force that could be used to… consolidate President Donald Trump’s power.”
