Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh — a 26-year-old social media influencer and progressive activist — is learning that “resistance” stunts have real-world consequences.
Last month, Abughazaleh took part in a protest at the Broadview ICE facility near Chicago, where she was physically removed after allegedly interfering with operations. Now, she’s facing a federal indictment with two serious charges: conspiracy to impede or injure an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, and assaulting or impeding that officer while performing official duties.
According to MSNBC, the conspiracy charge carries a potential six-year prison sentence, while the assault count could land her behind bars for up to eight years if convicted.
NEWS: Federal prosecutors indict Kat Abughazaleh, congressional candidate, county board candidate Cat Sharp and Dem committeeman Michael Rabbitt over September Broadview protest pic.twitter.com/tJ6msMX2MO
— Gregory Royal Pratt (@royalpratt) October 29, 2025
The indictment details how Abughazaleh and five other defendants allegedly conspired to “prevent by force” an agent at the facility from “discharging the duties of his office.”
Prosecutors allege that Abughazaleh and other protesters “banged aggressively” on a government vehicle, etched the word “PIG” into its body, and pushed against it with such force that a side mirror and windshield wiper were broken.
Video footage from the day of the protest shows Abughazaleh among a group of demonstrators attempting to block an ICE agent’s vehicle. While it’s unclear whether this specific incident forms the basis of her current charges, the footage clearly shows protesters striking and surrounding the government car:
Meet Kat Abughazaleh, she's running for Congress (IL-09) that's her in the white shirt
And she's committing a federal crime by impeding federal agts from doing their job
I'm calling on @Sec_Noem to submit a criminal referral to @TheJusticeDept on her
(RP) if you agree ? pic.twitter.com/990PND02CA
— @Chicago1Ray ?? (@Chicago1Ray) September 27, 2025
Abughazaleh later shared the video herself on social media, portraying the encounter as a harmless moment in which she was merely a pedestrian in a crosswalk who was nearly hit by federal agents.
“At the Broadview ICE facility, an ICE agent tried to run dozens of protesters over with an SUV as we walked on a public crosswalk,” she wrote, though the video shows no one who is standing in the crosswalk actually engaged in the act of walking.
Abughazaleh also claimed that ICE agents fired “pepper balls” at protesters during the demonstration.
Footage from a separate protest just a week earlier shows the far-left Democrat being physically moved aside by ICE agents after attempting to block a vehicle. In one clip, posted on X by NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley, an officer can be seen escorting Abughazaleh to the opposite side of the street after she deliberately stepped in front of an agency vehicle — only for her to end up unceremoniously dropped on the pavement moments later.
Now: A woman protesting rushes in front of a federal officer’s vehicle leaving the Broadview facility—Agents quickly jump in and forcibly remove her. Earlier she was sitting on the ground blocking the exit. pic.twitter.com/Y9DgbBg9xf
— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) September 19, 2025
She literally sprinted from the side just to plant herself in front of the SUV — yet somehow, in her version of events, the driver was the villain for “trying to run them over.”
Despite the gravity of the federal charges against her, Abughazaleh struck a defiant tone online, posting a video claiming she’s the victim of “political prosecution.” She accused the Department of Justice of engaging in a “gross attempt to silence dissent,” insisting her actions were protected under the First Amendment — a bold defense, considering the video evidence shows otherwise.
“I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win,” she wrote on X.
I have been charged in a federal indictment sought by the Department of Justice.
This political prosecution is an attack on all of our First Amendment rights. I’m not backing down, and we’re going to win. pic.twitter.com/szOSZa1h3z
— Kat Abughazaleh (@KatAbughazaleh) October 29, 2025
Attorney General Pam Bondi warned on the date of the incident that the DOJ would “not stand idly by in the face of such lawlessness.”
“The Department of Justice will seek the most serious available charges against all participants in these criminal mobs, including conspiracy offenses, assault offenses, civil disorder offenses, and terrorism offenses,” Bondi announced.
Why young people allow Democrats to brainwash them into surrendering their freedom ruining their lives remains a mystery to me.
