Democratic Candidate, Five Indicted Over ICE Protest

On Oct. 29 a federal grand jury in Chicago indicted Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh and five others for allegedly conspiring to impede and injure a federal officer by surrounding and blocking an ICE vehicle during a Sept. 26 protest outside the Broadview, Illinois, immigration processing facility. Prosecutors say the group banged and pushed on the vehicle, scratched “PIG” into it, broke a mirror and a wiper, and that Abughazaleh braced on the hood; the defendants face multiyear prison terms (reports have said penalties could be as high as eight years). Named alongside Abughazaleh were activists and local officeholders Andre Martin, Michael Rabbitt, Catherine Sharp, Brian Straw and Joselyn Walsh, who have pleaded or said they will plead not guilty, and Abughazaleh and her attorneys called the indictment a political prosecution that they say chills First Amendment protest rights. The U.S. attorney’s office defended the charges as necessary for federal officials to perform their duties, and prosecutors unsealed the indictments amid the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” following weeks of clashes that produced thousands of arrests and complaints of excessive force and prompted judicial oversight including an order for Border Patrol to brief a judge nightly; the defendants are scheduled to make initial court appearances.