US Democratic congressional candidate indicted for Chicago ICE protest

Candidate Kat Abughazaleh decried the charges arsenic ‘political prosecution’ amid a Trump standoff with Democratic cities.

A Democratic campaigner for the United States House of Representatives has been indicted by the Department of Justice successful transportation with a protestation successful beforehand of a national migration installation successful Illinois.

On Wednesday, successful a station connected societal media, Kat Abughazaleh, 26, announced that she had been charged alongside 5 different protesters.

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“This governmental prosecution is an onslaught connected each of our First Amendment rights,” Abughazaleh, a progressive influencer and journalist, said successful the post. “I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win.”

Currently, Abughazelah is moving for an unfastened spot representing Illinois’s ninth legislature district, to the northbound of Chicago. She is slated to look connected the Democratic superior ballot successful March.

Federal prosecutors, however, person accused her and her co-defendants of having “physically hindered and impeded” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers astatine a detention installation successful Broadview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

The indictment said they surrounded a authorities vehicle, “banged aggressively”, stopped the cause from driving forward, and etched “PIG” connected the assemblage of the vehicle. It further alleged that the radical broke the vehicle’s broadside mirrors and a windshield wiper.

Abughazaleh was charged with “conspiracy to impede oregon injure an officer” and “assaulting, resisting oregon impeding” a national cause for the September 23 incident.

I person been charged successful a national indictment sought by the Department of Justice.This governmental prosecution is an onslaught connected each of our First Amendment rights. I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win.

— Kat Abughazaleh (@katmabu.bsky.social) 2025-10-29T16:55:30.610Z

Those charged alongside Abughazelah see Michael Rabbitt, a Democratic person successful Chicago’s 45th Ward, and Catherine Sharp, a Democrat moving for a spot connected the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

The charges travel arsenic the medication of President Donald Trump surges national agents to Democrat-run cities arsenic portion of a large-scale deportation drive.

Several Democratic lawmakers person been charged aft participating successful counterprotests, including Ras Baraka, the politician of Newark, New Jersey, and US Representative LaMonica McIver. Baraka has since seen the charges against him dropped.

Trump has besides sought to deploy the National Guard to respective cities, including Chicago, but has been repeatedly blocked by the courts. The Supreme Court is expected to contented a ruling successful the Chicago case, which could person wide-ranging implications for the aboriginal of specified deployments.

A national appeals tribunal was besides acceptable to perceive a Trump medication situation connected Wednesday to a little court’s ruling barring the National Guard deployment to Portland, Oregon.

As portion of those cases, the Trump medication has faced scrutiny implicit its attraction of immigrants and protesters alike.

The medication has besides been criticised for comparing protesters to “terrorists” and pursuing disproportionate charges successful court.

Even Abughazelah’s hostile successful the 2026 Democratic primary, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, was among those condemning Wednesday’s indictment.

“The lone radical engaged successful convulsive and unsafe behaviour astatine Broadview person been ICE,” Biss said successful a connection carried by the section quality tract Evanston Now.

Biss noted helium had besides protested the “kidnapping of our neighbours” astatine the installation aggregate times.

“Now, the Trump Administration is targeting protestors, including governmental candidates, successful an effort to soundlessness dissent and scare residents into submission,” Biss said. “It won’t work.”