The Justice Department indicted Kat Abughazaleh, a progressive Democrat running for Congress, for protesting at an ICE detention center in Chicago, Illinois.
The DOJ alleged that Abughazaleh is one of six local protesters who blocked agents from carrying out deportations, because they were standing in front of a DHS vehicle. The government claims she intimidated federal agents by placing her hands on the front of the vehicle.
If convicted, Abughazaleh could spend up to eight years in prison.
This is a major push by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish anyone who speaks out against them… because we have the gall to say that masked men coming into our communities, abducting our neighbors, and terrorizing us cannot be our new normal.
Kat Abughazaleh
It’s not lost on us that the first politician facing prison for protesting comes from a Palestinian family, the first minority group Trump targeted for political speech after taking office.
Abughazaleh has been threatened, beaten, and body-slammed by ICE agents while protesting with her community. In at least two cases, agents at the same detention center shot local reverends with pepper balls.
Under NSPM-7, law enforcement agencies are encouraged to target as terrorists “anyone who uses intimidation to obstruct law enforcement.”
In recent weeks, ICE and Border Patrol agents have ramped up accusations of obstruction and intimidation against American citizens. A video posted to X this week shows agents accusing a woman of impeding and obstructing law enforcement for filming them from her car, which is not a crime.
