A Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois has been indicted for blocking a federal agent’s car throughout September protests exterior an immigration enforcement constructing in suburban Chicago, based on court docket paperwork unsealed Wednesday.
The felony indictment, filed final week by a particular grand jury, accuses Kat Abughazaleh and 5 others of conspiring to impede an officer.
“It is a political prosecution and a gross try to silence dissent, a proper protected underneath the First Modification. This case is a significant push by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish anybody who speaks out in opposition to them,” Abughazaleh stated Wednesday in a video posted to BlueSky.
Protesters have been gathering exterior the immigration middle to oppose enforcement operations within the Chicago space which have led to greater than 1,800 arrests and complaints of extreme power.
Greg Bovino, who’s main Border Patrol efforts in Chicago, was ordered this week by U.S. District Decide Sara Ellis to temporary her each night concerning the operations, starting on Wednesday. It’s an unprecedented bid to impose real-time oversight on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown within the metropolis after weeks of tense encounters and more and more aggressive techniques by brokers.
Federal prosecutors accuse Abughazaleh and others of surrounding a car pushed by a federal agent on Sept. 26 and making an attempt to cease it from coming into the ability.
Among the many others named within the indictment are a candidate for the Prepare dinner County Board, a Democratic ward committeeman and a trustee in suburban Oak Park. The costs accuse all six of conspiring to impede an officer.
Abughazaleh is scheduled to make an preliminary court docket look subsequent week. A message left together with her marketing campaign wasn’t instantly returned. Her lawyer known as the costs “unjust.”
The indictment stated the group banged on the automotive, pushed in opposition to it, broke a mirror and scratched the textual content “PIG” on the car, the indictment stated.
Abughazaleh at one level put her fingers on the car’s hood and braced her physique in opposition to it whereas staying in its manner, the indictment says. The agent was “compelled to drive at an especially gradual price of velocity to keep away from injuring any of the conspirators,” it says.
Abughazaleh is working in a crowded Democratic main to switch retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schawkosky.
Protesting the immigration crackdown round Chicago has emerged as a high subject on campaigns in Illinois’ March main. Elected officers and candidates within the Democratic stronghold have usually confirmed up for demonstrations exterior the Broadview federal facility.
“As I and others have exercised our First Modification rights, ICE has hit, dragged, thrown, shot with pepper balls, and teargassed a whole bunch of protesters, just because we had the gall to say that masked males coming into our communities, abducting our neighbors, and terrorizing us can’t be our new regular,” Abughazaleh says within the video.
“As scary as all of that is, I’ve spent my profession preventing America’s backslide into fascism,” she says. “I’m not gonna cease now, and I hope you gained’t both.”
Tareen and Seewer write for the Related Press. Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.
