Democratic Illinois congressional candidate indicted over blocking vehicles during ICE protests

A Democratic Illinois congressional candidate was indicted with five others for allegedly blocking vehicles during protests at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Chicago.

The indictment was filed last week by a special grand jury, which accused 26-year-old Kat Abughazaleh of blocking a federal agent outside the ICE detention center, The Associated Press reported. Abughazaleh is running for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District and used to work for Media Matters.

The indictment was filed on Thursday and recently unsealed, WGN News reported.

“The arraignments will be at a later date, possibly next week,” federal authorities told the news outlet.

“This is a political prosecution and a gross attempt to silence dissent, a right protected under the First Amendment. This case is a major push by the Trump administration to criminalize protest and punish anyone who speaks out against them,” Abughazaleh said in a video posted on BlueSky.

“As I and others have exercised our First Amendment rights, ICE has hit, dragged, thrown, shot with pepper balls, and tear gassed hundreds of protesters, simply because we had the gall to say that masked men coming into our communities, abducting our neighbors, and terrorizing us cannot be our new normal,” she said in the video.

“As scary as all of this is, I have spent my career fighting America’s backslide into fascism,” Abughazaleh added. “I’m not gonna stop now, and I hope you won’t either.”