An Illinois Democrat congressional candidate has been indicted for allegedly obstructing federal immigration agents during a deportation operation earlier this year.
Kat Abughazaleh, a Gen Z leftist activist running to replace retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), faces a federal charge of interfering with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Schakowsky has represented Illinois’ 9th Congressional District since 1999.
According to the Department of Justice, Abughazaleh allegedly stood in front of a government vehicle to block agents from leaving a removal scene.
“ABUGHAZALEH 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 Agent A and the vehicle from proceeding to the [staging area],” the indictment reads, according to Fox News.
In a post on X, Abughazaleh confirmed the indictment and denounced the charges.
“I have been charged in a federal indictment sought by the Department of Justice,” she wrote. “This political prosecution is an attack on all of our First Amendment rights. I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win.”
The case underscores growing tensions over federal immigration enforcement operations nationwide.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, an illegal immigrant in Dallas was arrested earlier this month for allegedly posting a TikTok video encouraging others to murder ICE agents. Eduardo Aguilar, 23, a Mexican national, faces a charge of transmitting a threat in interstate or foreign commerce, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.