DOJ Drops Charges Against Chicago-Area Anti-ICE Protesters (2)

Chicago’s top federal prosecutor Andrew Boutros appeared in court Thursday to dismiss the remaining misdemeanor charges against four anti-ICE protesters, not long after a closed-door hearing at which attorneys discussed grand jury transcripts.

A trial had been scheduled for next week.

Defense attorneys told reporters after the hearing that they’d learned prosecutors had engaged in serious misconduct before the grand jury.

Nancy DePodesta, a former federal prosecutor who represents defendant Michael Rabbitt, said, “it was absolutely sickening” to hear Judge April Perry at the closed hearing describe what happened at the grand jury. Perry reviewed the unredacted transcripts for the first time earlier in the week, prompting the rapid scheduling of Thursday’s proceedings.

Defense attorneys hadn’t been given access to the grand jury transcripts as of early Thursday afternoon. But they told reporters that during the morning’s closed hearing, Perry and the attorneys discussed apparent “vouching” — a tactic in which prosecutors improperly assure grand jurors the case is strong — as well as communications outside the grand jury proceedings between a prosecutor and a grand juror.

Some grand jurors who didn’t agree with the government’s viewpoint apparently weren’t permitted to continue to deliberate, defense attorneys told reporters. Grand jurors also declined to indict the case at one point, the attorneys said.

Boutros, the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said in court he had been unaware of any vouching and that when he learned of it in April he decided to dismiss the felony conspiracy count. He also hadn’t known about the ex parte communications, he said.

Boutros said he was sure no prosecutors acted with the intent to mislead Perry when they initially gave her a redacted version of grand jury transcripts.

After telling Perry he’d dismiss the charges, Boutros said he stood by the office’s determination that it was reasonable to bring them. The defendants were accused of impeding a federal officer driving toward an ICE facility.

“It is but for the grace of God that the agent moved two miles an hour,” Boutros said. “That the agent didn’t panic and pull out his gun and shoot somebody, that nobody on that scene perhaps had a gun and shot at the agent.”

The case has been among the most high-profile to emerge from the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation effort in the area, called “Operation Midway Blitz.”

Prosecutors initially charged six people with felony conspiracy as well as misdemeanor counts of impeding a federal officer. The charges stemmed from a protest near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview.

They were in a group that tried to block an agent from driving toward the facility, prosecutors said. The defense has said they were peacefully demonstrating when the agent drove into the crowd.

Prosecutors previously dropped charges altogether against two of the six defendants, leaving four to prepare for trial: Michael Rabbitt, a Cook County Democratic ward committeeperson; Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh, who placed second in an Illinois Democratic congressional primary this year; Andre Martin, who was on her campaign staff; and Brian Straw, a trustee of suburban Oak Park.

The matter of the grand jury transcripts arose after prosecutors said they’d narrow the scope of the conspiracy charge against the protesters, announcing they’d proceed on certain aspects of 18 U.S.C. § 372 but not others.

That prompted defense attorneys to ask to see portions of the grand jury transcripts in which prosecutors instructed grand jurors on the law regarding conspiracy—or, alternately, to have the judge inspect them in chambers.

Perry said she’d look at the relevant parts of the transcripts and decide whether they should be turned over to the defense.

The government filed the transcripts under seal for Perry’s review, with some portions blacked out. Perry ordered prosecutors to bring “fully un-redacted” versions to a hearing scheduled for April 29.

That day, prosecutors announced they planned to drop the conspiracy count altogether and proceed only on a new misdemeanor information. Misdemeanor charges don’t have to be presented to a grand jury.

Because the conspiracy charge was no longer in play, Perry denied the grand jury transcript request as moot.

But the defense lawyers raised alarms on the sequence of events, saying they suspected an effort to shield possible flaws in the grand jury proceeding and again asking Perry for access to the transcripts. If there were problems at the grand jury, that could be legitimate grounds to try to get the whole case thrown out, they said.

Ultimately, Perry said in court Monday she’d read the unredacted transcripts “to see if there was anything suspicious.” Prosecutors didn’t raise objections.

Two days later, Perry scheduled Thursday’s sealed hearing and ordered any prosecutor involved in the decision to redact the transcripts to appear in person.

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. Straw is represented by Cheronis & Parente LLC.

The case is United States v. Rabbitt, N.D. Ill., No. 1:25-cr-00693, 5/21/26.