Democratic contender for Congress indicted over Chicago ICE protests

A 26-year-old progressive candidate for Congress is learning that activism has consequences. Kat Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American running to replace outgoing Democrat Jan Schakowsky in Illinois’s Ninth Congressional District, has been indicted on federal charges for her role in a violent protest outside an ICE processing facility near Chicago.

According to the federal indictment filed last week, Abughazaleh and five others “physically hindered and impeded” a federal agent who was forced to drive at “an extremely slow rate of speed to avoid injuring any of the conspirators.” Prosecutors allege the group “conspired with one another and others, known and unknown, to prevent by force, intimidation, and threat, Agent A, a United States law enforcement officer, from discharging the duties of his office.”

The indictment further details how the protesters “banged aggressively” on the agent’s vehicle, “crowded together in the front and side” of it, and “pushed against the vehicle to hinder and impede its movement.” They allegedly etched the word “pig” onto the car, broke a side mirror, and damaged a rear windshield wiper. Abughazaleh herself reportedly “joined the crowd at the front of the government vehicle, and with her hands on the hood braced her body and hands against the vehicle while remaining directly in the path of the vehicle, hindering and impeding” the agent.

Abughazaleh has built her political brand around opposing border enforcement and attacking former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies online. After being charged, she framed the case not as an issue of law and order—but as persecution. “This is a … gross attempt at silencing dissent, a right protected under the first amendment. This case is yet another attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish those who dare to speak up. That’s why I’m going to fight these unjust charges,” she said.

She continued, “As I and others exercised our first amendment rights, ICE has hit, dragged, thrown, shot with pepper balls, and teargassed hundreds of protesters, myself included. Simply because we had the gall to say masked men abducting our neighbors and terrorizing our community cannot be the new normal. This case targets our rights to protest, speak freely, and associate with anyone who disagrees with this government … I’ve spent my career fighting America’s backwards slide towards fascism and I’m not going to give up now.”

While Abughazaleh portrays herself as a victim of government oppression, the facts tell a different story—one of activists crossing the line from protest to criminal interference with federal agents. The right to protest does not include the right to damage property, obstruct law enforcement, or endanger lives. Yet increasingly, progressive activists justify chaos as “civil disobedience” and expect immunity from accountability.

Her indictment comes as federal immigration enforcement operations expand across progressive-run cities like Chicago. The Trump administration has made it clear that sanctuary policies do not exempt localities from the rule of law. Predictably, Democratic leaders and organizations such as the ACLU have denounced the effort, calling it a “build out of a national paramilitary policing force that could be used to … consolidate President Donald Trump’s power.”

But beneath the political noise lies a serious question: When elected officials refuse to uphold federal law, who pays the price? It’s not activists with media platforms—it’s the officers on the ground facing violent mobs, and the communities whose safety is compromised by political theater.

For years, Democrats have blurred the line between peaceful dissent and mob intimidation. Now, with one of their own candidates facing federal charges, that line is being tested in full view of the American people. The outcome of this case may set a precedent—not just for law enforcement, but for how far the left will go in excusing lawlessness in the name of “justice.”