US to Drop Conspiracy Count Against Chicago ICE Protesters (1)

Federal prosecutors in Chicago said they intend to dismiss felony conspiracy charges against four protesters accused of impeding a government vehicle on its way to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview, Ill., last year.

Prosecutors “are filing as we speak” a superseding information against the protesters that includes only the remaining misdemeanor charges of impeding a federal officer, Assistant US Attorney William Hogan said in court Wednesday.

Defense attorneys said they had no advance notice of the decision. They had aggressively criticized the conspiracy count, including on First Amendment grounds and by asking to examine portions of the grand jury transcripts in which grand jurors were instructed on conspiracy law.

Judge April Perry of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois had ordered prosecutors to bring unredacted grand jury transcripts to Wednesday’s hearing so she could examine them in chambers.

Defense attorneys told reporters after the hearing they’re happy with the government’s decision but said the case never should have been brought in the first place.

“Just think about the people in between the time this case was indicted and today that did not go to a protest because they were worried this office would charge them for just standing there and exercising their right of freedom of assembly,” said Christopher Parente of Cheronis & Parente LLC, who represents defendant Brian Straw. “We can never get that back.”

Defense attorneys said they still hope to find a way to see the grand jury transcripts.

“What did they say to the grand jury that took them three separate sessions to explain the law on something like this?” Parente said. “Those are the questions that we still have, and these guys are going to continue to fight.”

Prosecutors previously said they’d narrow the scope of the conspiracy charge, saying they would attempt to prove the defendants conspired to prevent a federal officer from discharging his duties—not to injure him or his property.

Six people were initially charged in connection with the September protest, but prosecutors dismissed charges entirely against two of them last month. Remaining as defendants are Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh, who ran in an Illinois Democratic congressional primary this year; Andre Martin, a member of her campaign staff; Straw, a trustee of suburban Oak Park; and Michael Rabbitt, a Cook County Democratic committeeperson.

They were in a group of protesters outside the facility when a federal officer detailed to ICE drove toward them. According to prosecutors, protesters surrounded the vehicle, banged on it, and pushed against it. Defense attorneys have said the agent deliberately drove into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators.

It’s one of several criminal prosecutions stemming from demonstrations against “Operation Midway Blitz,” the Trump administration’s aggressive Chicago-area deportation effort that swarmed the city and suburbs last fall.

Prosecutors have faced several setbacks in Midway Blitz-related cases. They’ve dropped cases — including one against a woman who was shot by a Border Patrol agent — and suffered a high-profile trial loss when jurors acquitted a man accused of putting a bounty on former Border Patrol boss Gregory Bovino.

Rabbitt is represented by Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. Abughazaleh is represented by Joshua Herman and Molly Armour of Chicago. Martin is represented by Cotsirilos, Poulos & Campbell Ltd.

The case is United States v. Rabbitt et al, N.D. Ill., No. 1:25-cr-00693, hearing 4/29/26.