Feds Say Kat Abughazaleh “Impeded” ICE Agents. That Would Put Her on the Right Side of History. |
In yet another overreaching and nakedly political prosecution, the Justice Department on Wednesday indicted Democratic Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh on federal charges for taking part in a nonviolent protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Chicago.
The government claims that Abughazaleh, alongside five other protesters, “impeded and interfered with an officer of the United States.” All six protesters are also charged together as alleged members of a “conspiracy” to prevent the officer from discharging his duties.
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Trump DOJ Charges House Candidate Kat Abughazaleh With Conspiracy for Protesting ICE
Let’s be clear: If six people nonviolently protesting outside a government facility constitutes a criminal conspiracy, all First Amendment-protected activity is at risk.
The particular conspiracy charge the Chicago protesters face — conspiracy to impede a United States officer — “was one of the main charges used against January 6th insurrection defendants,” noted civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo on Bluesky. The attempted coup that day had been marked by serious violence: An estimated 140 police officers were injured at the Capitol.
The alleged conspiracy in Abughazaleh’s case?
All six people facing charges were part of a September protest outside ICE’s Broadview Processing Center. At the demonstration, a federal........