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📂 Category: Chicago,illinois,immigration,immigration and customs enforcement,Kat Abughazaleh,protests
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CHICAGO (AP) — A Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois has been charged with obstructing a federal agent’s car during September protests outside an immigration enforcement building in suburban Chicago, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.
The indictment, presented by a grand jury last week, accuses Kat Abu Ghazaleh and five others of conspiring to obstruct an officer.
Abu-Ghazaleh said in a statement on Wednesday: “This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt to silence dissent, a right protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. This case is another attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish those who dare to speak out.”
Protesters gathered outside the immigration center to oppose law enforcement operations in the Chicago area that led to the arrests of more than 1,800 people and complaints of excessive force.
Read more: Immigration agents have become increasingly aggressive in Chicago
U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis ordered Greg Bovino, who leads the Border Patrol’s efforts in Chicago, this week to brief her every evening on the operations. But the Court of Appeal blocked the order before he was scheduled to appear Wednesday while it considers an appeal from the Justice Department.
Federal prosecutors accuse Abu-Ghazaleh and others of surrounding a vehicle driven by a federal agent on September 26 and trying to prevent it from entering the facility.
Others named in the indictment include a Cook County Council candidate, a Democratic ward committeeman, and a trustee in the suburb of Oak Park. The six counts allege conspiracy to obstruct an officer.
Abu-Ghazaleh is scheduled to appear in court for the first time next week. Her lawyer described the accusations as “unfair.”
The group hit and pushed the car, broke a mirror and scratched the words “pig” on the car, the indictment said.
The indictment says that at some point, Abu-Ghazaleh placed her hands on the hood of the car and leaned her body against it while she was on her way. The agent was “forced to drive at an extremely slow speed to avoid hitting any of the conspirators,” the report states.
Just a week before that alleged confrontation, she told The Associated Press that during a protest on September 19, federal agents threw her to the ground and was hit with tear gas while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with others in front of a crosswalk, blocking the path of a car. A video clip of that incident went viral.
Abu-Ghazaleh, a liberal journalist with a large following on social media, announced her candidacy in March, saying that most Democrats “operate according to outdated rules of the game.”
He watches: How Democratic candidates are pushing young people to redefine the party’s future
She’s running in a crowded Democratic primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Jan Schokowski.
Immigration protest around Chicago emerged as a major campaign issue in the Illinois primary in March. Elected officials and candidates in the Democratic stronghold have often appeared at demonstrations outside the Broadview federal facility.
“While I and others exercised our First Amendment rights, ICE beat, dragged, threw, pepper-balled, and tear-gassed hundreds of protesters, including me,” Abu-Ghazaleh said. “Simply because we had the audacity to say that masked men kidnapping our neighbors and terrorizing our community cannot be the new normal.”
“I have spent my career fighting America’s slide back toward fascism, and I will not give up now,” she said. “I hope you don’t either.”
Sewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.
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