Illinois Democrat posts video of alleged ICE protest crime, faces charges

A Democratic congressional candidate from Illinois posted a video to social media that seems to depict occasions detailed in a federal indictment accusing her of obstructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers.

Kat Abughazaleh, 26, a self-described “Gen Z influencer,” has known as the fees a “political persecution” and mentioned she was exercising her First Modification rights and never breaking the regulation.

“I’ve been charged in a federal indictment filed by the Division of Justice,” she wrote of X. “This political prosecution is an assault on all of our First Modification rights. I am not going to again down and we’ll win.’

DHS RIPS ‘Dishonest, Determined’ GEN Z CANDIDATE WHO RAGED AGAINST KRISTI NOEM’S ‘crimes’ AT ANTI-ICE PROTEST

Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh holds a megaphone outdoors the Broadview ICE processing middle, September 26, 2025. (Reuters/Jim Vondruska)

Throughout a protest outdoors ICE’s Broadview Service Staging Space in suburban Chicago on September 26, federal prosecutors allege they joined a gang that swarmed a regulation enforcement automobile and blocked it with their our bodies earlier than somebody etched the phrase “PIG” into the automobile and others ripped off a mirror and a windshield wiper.

WATCH: Illinois Democrat posts video of ICE protest that led to her federal indictment

In line with the indictment, Abughazaleh is accused of participating within the blockade round 7:45 a.m. that very same day.

“ABUGHAZALEH joined the gang on the entrance of the federal government automobile, and along with her arms on the hood, she positioned her physique and arms towards the automobile whereas remaining immediately within the path of the automobile, obstructing and impeding Officer A and the automobile from shifting towards the automobile. [staging area]” reads the criticism.

The video seems to indicate simply that, with Abughazaleh main the gang, leaning towards the entrance of the unmarked automobile, a black SUV with flashing lights.

Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh protests at an ICE processing middle, close to Chicago, on September 26, 2025. (Reuters/Jim Vondruska)

Abughazaleh payments himself as a radical progressive Democrat whose platform features a wealth tax on rich Individuals, a $25 minimal wage and “a right away path to citizenship for DREAMers and different undocumented immigrants.” In line with her web site, her hobbies embrace knitting and enjoying video video games.

DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE DRIVEN TO THE GROUND DURING CHAOTIC ANTI-ICE PROTEST

Learn the indictment:

She has additionally fiercely opposed the Trump administration’s crackdown on unlawful immigrants. In a tv interview earlier this month, she informed former White Home press secretary Jen Psaki that she believes Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem “ought to be tried in The Hague” — a reference to the Netherlands-based Worldwide Felony Courtroom.

Abughazaleh faces two costs below a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday: conspiracy to stop a regulation enforcement officer from discharging his duties and forcibly obstructing, intimidating and obstructing a federal officer. 5 different individuals who attended the protest had been additionally charged.

A protester carrying an American flag face masking faces Cook dinner County sheriffs outdoors an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025. (AP Picture/Adam Grey)

Two of them are additionally concerned in native politics: Michael Rabbitt, a Democratic committee member in Chicago’s forty fifth Ward, and Catherine Sharp, a candidate for the Cook dinner County Board of Commissioners.

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The Gen Z candidate is operating for Illinois’ ninth Congressional District seat to switch the outgoing 81-year-old Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who’s retiring after holding the workplace since 1999.

Fox Information’ Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.