Candidate Kat Abughazaleh decried the fees as ‘political prosecution’ amid a Trump standoff with Democratic cities.
A Democratic candidate for the US Home of Representatives has been indicted by the Division of Justice in reference to a protest in entrance of a federal immigration facility in Illinois.
On Wednesday, in a publish on social media, Kat Abughazaleh, 26, introduced that she had been charged alongside 5 different protesters.
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“This political prosecution is an assault on all of our First Modification rights,” Abughazaleh, a progressive influencer and journalist, mentioned within the publish. “I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win.”
At present, Abughazelah is working for an open seat representing Illinois’s ninth congressional district, to the north of Chicago. She is slated to seem on the Democratic major poll in March.
Federal prosecutors, nevertheless, have accused her and her co-defendants of getting “bodily hindered and impeded” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers at a detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
The indictment mentioned they surrounded a authorities automobile, “banged aggressively”, stopped the agent from driving ahead, and etched “PIG” on the physique of the automobile. It additional alleged that the group broke the automobile’s aspect mirrors and a windshield wiper.
Abughazaleh was charged with “conspiracy to impede or injure an officer” and “assaulting, resisting or impeding” a federal agent for the September 23 incident.
I’ve been charged in a federal indictment sought by the Division of Justice.This political prosecution is an assault on all of our First Modification rights. I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win.
— Kat Abughazaleh (@katmabu.bsky.social) 2025-10-29T16:55:30.610Z
These charged alongside Abughazelah embody Michael Rabbitt, a Democratic politician in Chicago’s forty fifth Ward, and Catherine Sharp, a Democrat working for a seat on the Prepare dinner County Board of Commissioners.
The fees come because the administration of President Donald Trump surges federal brokers to Democrat-run cities as a part of a large-scale deportation drive.
A number of Democratic lawmakers have been charged after taking part in counterprotests, together with Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and US Consultant LaMonica McIver. Baraka has since seen the fees in opposition to him dropped.
Trump has additionally sought to deploy the Nationwide Guard to a number of cities, together with Chicago, however has been repeatedly blocked by the courts. The Supreme Court docket is predicted to concern a ruling within the Chicago case, which might have wide-ranging implications for the way forward for such deployments.
A federal appeals courtroom was additionally set to listen to a Trump administration problem on Wednesday to a decrease courtroom’s ruling barring the Nationwide Guard deployment to Portland, Oregon.
As a part of these instances, the Trump administration has confronted scrutiny over its remedy of immigrants and protesters alike.
The administration has additionally been criticised for evaluating protesters to “terrorists” and pursuing disproportionate expenses in courtroom.
Even Abughazelah’s opponent within the 2026 Democratic major, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, was amongst these condemning Wednesday’s indictment.
“The one individuals engaged in violent and harmful conduct at Broadview have been ICE,” Biss mentioned in an announcement carried by the native information website Evanston Now.
Biss famous he had additionally protested the “kidnapping of our neighbours” on the facility a number of instances.
“Now, the Trump Administration is focusing on protestors, together with political candidates, in an effort to silence dissent and scare residents into submission,” Biss mentioned. “It received’t work.”
