Chicago US House Candidate Charged With Blocking ICE Vehicle (2)

A Democratic candidate for Illinois’ Ninth Congressional District is among six protesters charged with blocking the progress of a government vehicle near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility last month in suburban Chicago, according to federal charges unsealed Wednesday.

In a statement on social media, candidate Kat Abughazaleh called the case a “political prosecution and a gross attempt to silence dissent.”

At least three of Abughazaleh’s co-defendants are also involved in local politics: Catherine Sharp, a candidate for Cook County Board and chief of staff for a Chicago city councilmember; Michael Rabbitt, the Cook County Democratic Party committeeperson for Chicago’s 45th Ward; and Brian Straw, a trustee of the Village Board in suburban Oak Park.

Straw’s attorney Christopher Parente said there is “a common thread between the people the Department of Justice hand-selected to charge from a protest over month ago, so obviously we believe there is selective prosecution going on here.”

Incident in Question

The indictment alleges that Abughazaleh and five others were in a crowd surrounding a vehicle driven by a law enforcement officer assigned to an administrative role with ICE as he drove toward the facility in Broadview, Ill. to report to work. People in the group “banged aggressively” on the vehicle, pushed against it, and scratched the word “PIG” into the paint, according to the indictment.

The agent “was forced to drive at an extremely slow rate of speed to avoid injuring any of the conspirators,” the indictment states.

Abughazaleh specifically is accused of being part of a group that stood in front of the vehicle and pressed on the hood to slow its progress, according to the indictment.

In a video Abughazaleh posted to BlueSky the morning of the alleged incident, an SUV drives very slowly into a group of demonstrators including Abughazaleh as they chant “down, down with deportation.” Some people slap the vehicle and, from a distance, appear to throw stuffed animals onto the hood.

“At the Broadview ICE facility, an ICE agent tried to run dozens of protesters over with an SUV as we walked on a public crosswalk,” Abughazaleh posted. “He kept driving for about a full football field until ICE barraged us with pepper balls.”

In a statement, Abughazaleh attorney Josh Herman described the charges as “a political prosecution that tries to turn dissent and First Amendment opposition to the Trump administration’s cruel policies into a conspiracy.”

Sharp’s attorney, Molly Armour, described the charges as “ludicrous.”

“We are confident that a jury of Ms. Sharp’s peers will see them for exactly what they are: an effort by the Trump administration to frighten people out of participating in protest and exercising their First Amendment rights,” Armour said in a statement.

Frequent Protests

An initial appearance before a magistrate judge was scheduled for Nov. 5.

For non-magistrate proceedings, the case has been assigned to District Judge April Perry, who this month blocked the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to the Chicago area.

Abughazaleh is one of many primary contenders hoping to replace longtime Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D), who announced earlier this year she wouldn’t seek re-election. The district covers parts of the North Side of Chicago and northern suburbs.

The Broadview facility has been the site of repeated protests during the administration’s aggressive “Operation Midway Blitz” crackdown. Federal prosecutors have had mixed results in cases alleging demonstrators at Broadview or across the city assaulted or impeded federal agents. Multiple cases have been dismissed, including charges against two defendants that were dropped after a grand jury declined to indict—an extremely rare occurrence.

The case is US v. Rabbitt et al, N.D. Ill., No. 1:25-cr-00693, indictment unsealed 10/29/25.