CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Kat Abughazaleh, a candidate running for Congress in Illinois, is among six people facing federal conspiracy charges in connection with protesting at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in suburban Broadview, the Democrat wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.
Abughazaleh wrote that those being charged are being targeted for “exercising our First Amendment rights” near the ICE facility, which has been the epicenter for clashes between protesters and federal officers and agents.
Video of an encounter showing Abughazaleh being thrown to the ground by a federal agent went viral after the incident took place at the Broadview facility in September.
Abughazaleh wrote in an Instagram post that she and others were targeted by federal officers and agents “simply because we had the gall to say masked men abducting our neighbors and terrorizing our community cannot be the new normal.”
Abughazaleh did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NewsNation affiliate WGN reported Abughazaleh was charged along with Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin, Catherine Sharp, Brian Straw and Joselyn Walsh. All six were indicted on two counts, including conspiracy to impede or injure a federal law enforcement officer and forcibly impeding, intimidating, or interfering with a federal law enforcement officer while engaged in official duties.
Sharp is the Chief of Staff for Chicago Ald. Andre Vasquez, another Democrat who has been at Broadview during protests over the presence of federal officers and agents assigned to Operation Midway Blitz. Sharp is also seeking a spot on the Cook County (Ill.) Board of Commissioners.
Sharp’s attorney, Molly Armour, called the charges “ludicrous” and said the indictment is an attempt by the Trump administration to frighten people from participating in protests.
In a statement issued to NewsNation on Wednesday, Vasquez said the federal government is targeting Sharp and others for “standing up and speaking out against their brutal campaign against immigrants.”
“They want to scare of community into submission,” Vasquez said. “It won’t work. With these charges, they are acting with the same lack of regard for the constitution that we’ve seen from them every day on the streets of Chicago.”
Rabbitt is also a Democrat seeking elected office as an Illinois state representative.
The federal indictment was filed Oct. 23 and was unsealed on Wednesday. The indictment says that the group conspired to impede federal officers from doing their job and to injure the officer or his property. Federal prosecutors claim “PIG” was etched into the vehicle by the protesters and that demonstrators, including Abughazaleh, “banged aggressively” on the vehicle and stood directly in its path.
The indictment also indicates that protesters broke one of the vehicle’s side mirrors and also broke a rear windshield wiper.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to NewsNation’s request for comment on the charges.
“This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt to silence dissent,” Abughazaleh said in a video posted to her X account. “This case is a major push by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish anyone who speaks out against them. That’s why I’m going to fight these unjust charges.”
She added: “We cannot diminish ourselves in the face of these tactics; it’s time to unite and show up for humanity, for our rights, for everyone terrorized by Trump’s lawless secret police.”