Chicago ICE Protesters Say Their Indictment Targets Free Speech

The Trump administration brought a conspiracy charge against a group of Chicago-area protesters—including a Congressional candidate—in an unconstitutional effort to punish their political speech, the defendants allege in a motion filed Monday.

The conspiracy count against them should be dismissed on First Amendment grounds, attorneys for the defendants wrote, saying the government “is seeking to criminalize and chill a broad and diverse social movement engaging in constitutionally protected protest activities by misapplying the law in an effort to silence dissent.”

“By indicting Defendants under an amorphous ‘spontaneous conspiracy’ theory based merely on their coincidental presence and participation in a ...