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In yet another<\/span> overreaching and nakedly political prosecution, the Justice Department on Wednesday indicted<\/a> Democratic Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh on federal charges for taking part in a nonviolent protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Chicago.<\/p>\n The government claims that Abughazaleh, alongside five other protesters, \u201cimpeded and interfered with an officer of the United States.\u201d All six protesters are also charged together as alleged members of a \u201cconspiracy\u201d to prevent the officer from discharging his duties.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s be clear: If six people nonviolently protesting outside a government facility constitutes a criminal conspiracy, all First Amendment-protected activity is at risk.<\/p>\n The particular conspiracy charge the Chicago protesters face \u2014 conspiracy to impede a United States officer \u2014 \u201cwas one of the main charges used against January 6th insurrection defendants,\u201d noted<\/a> civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo on Bluesky. The attempted coup that day had been marked by serious violence: An estimated 140 police officers were injured at the Capitol.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The alleged conspiracy in Abughazaleh\u2019s case?<\/p>\n All six people facing charges were part of a September protest outside ICE\u2019s Broadview Processing Center. At the demonstration, a federal agent was \u201cforced to drive at an extremely slow rate of speed,\u201d the indictment said, so as not to mow down protesters. The vehicle reportedly incurred minor damage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A federal agent was \u201cforced to drive at an extremely slow rate of speed,\u201d the indictment said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Now the protesters are facing a possible six-year prison sentence for it.<\/p>\n Footage<\/a> from that day showed federal agents firing pepper balls and tear gas at demonstrators. One officer grabbed Abughazaleh and threw her hard to the ground.<\/p>\n Evidence abounds of ICE and other<\/a> federal agents<\/a>\u2019 brutality<\/a> as the deportation machine escalates in Chicago and nationwide. Agents are tear-gassing<\/a> residential areas in order to kidnap immigrant neighbors, regularly assaulting<\/a> protesters, violently raiding whole apartment<\/a> buildings among other indiscriminate, racist sweeps, and chasing<\/a> immigrants workers to their deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n Whatever comes to pass in the case against Abughazaleh and the other protesters, to impede such inhumanity is to stand on the right side of history.<\/p>\n Meritless, malicious prosecutions aimed at collective punishment and the chilling of dissent<\/a> are now standard practice for Donald Trump\u2019s Justice Department. It is a brute force approach to lawfare, with ample likelihood of pushback in the courts.<\/p>\n Indeed, the federal charges facing Abughazaleh come as no surprise from a loyalist Justice Department openly engaged in targeting the president\u2019s political opponents.<\/p>\n The groundless effort to frame a typical demonstration as a conspiracy is also part of an ongoing regime project to criminalize<\/a> opposition protest<\/a>, tout court. The point\u00a0is to further normalize <\/a>treating protesters<\/a> as criminals<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nTrump\u2019s Brute Force Lawfare<\/strong><\/h2>\n