A special federal grand jury has indicted Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh alongside other protesters who allegedly blocked vehicles outside of a federal immigration facility in Broadview, Illinois.
The indictment, which was filed Oct. 23, alleges that Abughazaleh “physically hindered and impeded” an agent who was “forced to drive at an extremely slow rate of speed to avoid injuring any of the conspirators.” Abughazaleh was charged alongside Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin, Catherine Sharp, Brian Straw, and Joselyn Walsh.
The indictment alleges that the group “conspired with one another and others, known and unknown, to prevent by force, intimidation, and threat, Agent A, a United States law enforcement officer, from discharging the duties of his office, and to injure him in his person or property on account of his lawful discharge of the duties of his office, and while engaged in the lawful discharge thereof, and to injure his property so as to interrupt, hinder, and impede him in the discharge of his official duties.”
“I have been charged in a federal indictment sought by the Department of Justice. This political prosecution is an attack on all of our First Amendment rights. I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win,” Abughazaleh wrote in a social media post.
Abughazaleh, a social media star and former journalist, is running for Congress in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, currently held by retiring Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky. She has been vocally critical of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
In a fundraising email to supporters, Abughazaleh called the charges “yet another attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish those who dare to speak up.”
She added that “Chicago doesn’t back down from bullies in masks who teargas our neighborhoods, this administration is resorting to weaponizing the federal legal system to scare us into silence.”
Broadview, a Chicago suburb, has for months stood at the center of confrontations between immigration authorities and protesters. The facility has drawn activists from around the country as well as demonstrators from the greater Chicago area who have grown agitated over what they view as overreach by immigration officials.
The small suburb, west of the city, has faced its own struggles with the onslaught of protesters, to the point that it created a “First Amendment” zone where they could safely organize, and the mayor has restricted hours of protests to protect the sanctity of Broadview residents. Clashes between protesters and immigration officials have resulted in arrests and First Amendment challenges in federal court.
A federal judge earlier this month issued a temporary restraining order against law enforcement officials to curb the use of tactics like throwing pepper balls or tear gas canisters into a crowd, particularly without warning.
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