Remaining ‘Broadview Six’ protesters set for rare federal misdemeanor
trial next week
[May 19, 2026]
By Hannah Meisel
CHICAGO — Prosecutors are set to try the remaining “Broadview Six”
immigration protesters in a rare federal misdemeanor trial next week,
after a lengthy pretrial conference Monday ironed out final details
right down to the configuration of defense tables in the courtroom.
The trial is scheduled to begin after Memorial Day and run for two
weeks. But defense attorneys are still hopeful it might be avoided after
U.S. District Judge April Perry agreed to read unredacted transcripts
from inside the grand jury room.
Lawyers for the defendants, including former congressional candidate
Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh, have all but accused prosecutors of
misconduct in the three separate grand jury sessions this fall that led
to their clients’ October indictment.
The grand jury indicted the original six defendants on a count of felony
conspiracy for their involvement in a late September protest outside a
federal immigration facility in Chicago’s near-west suburb of Broadview
for allegedly conspiring to “interrupt, hinder, and impede” a federal
immigration agent from the “discharge of his official duties.” They were
also each charged with individual misdemeanor counts, which are not
charged by a grand jury.
But after dropping all charges against two of the defendants in March,
prosecutors made another surprise announcement last month, telling U.S.
District Judge April Perry that they’d decided to drop the conspiracy
charge. While defense attorneys framed it as a win for their clients,
they also suggested the feds’ unexpected move was a strategic way to
avoid having to hand over unredacted grand jury transcripts. That set
off a week of dueling accusations between defense lawyers and
prosecutors over the speed at which the conspiracy charge was dropped
and what went on in the grand jury room.
Finally on Monday, the judge agreed to take a look at the transcripts at
the urging of Chris Parente, an attorney for Oak Park village trustee
Brian Straw, one of the defendants. Echoing arguments he’s made to Perry
over the last month, Parente suggested that even the smallest untoward
comment could’ve “tainted” the grand jury process, though the judge said
it was her understanding that the redactions in version of the
transcripts she’d previously seen were likely caused by tech issues and
not anything nefarious.
Still, Parente argued that if Perry found something relevant in the
transcripts, defense attorneys could make a motion to nullify the
remaining misdemeanor charges “and we wouldn’t have to have a trial in
this case.”
Canceling the trial would also be “saving resources,” Parente said,
referring to a decision Perry had made moments before denying a request
from both government and defense lawyers for a jury field trip during
trial. In motions last week, both argued it would be beneficial for the
jury to see the intersection outside of the U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement processing center in Broadview, about 13 miles west of the
Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
But the judge balked, citing concerns over the field trip becoming a
spectacle that would draw a crowd of protesters, which could then taint
the jury.
“To blow a half a day on this, I think, is not a great use of time and
taxpayer money,” Perry said after pointing out that the site of the
incident was merely “an intersection” and “not an exotic locale they’ve
never seen before.”
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Former 9th District congressional candidate Katherine “Kat”
Abughazaleh addresses reporters following her Nov. 12, 2025,
arraignment hearing in Chicago. (Capitol News Illinois photo by
Hannah Meisel)
Charges, trial
The case stems from a Sept. 26, 2025, demonstration outside a U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the Chicago suburb of
Broadview, which at the time was the epicenter of protests against the
Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign dubbed “Operation
Midway Blitz.”
Social media video of the protest posted by Abughazaleh, an
influencer-turned-congressional candidate, captured the moment she and
dozens of others surrounded an ICE vehicle that drove through the crowd,
banging on its windows. Others charged include Abughazaleh’s deputy
campaign manager, Andre Martin, and Chicago 45th Ward Democratic
Committeeman Michael Rabbitt.
The vehicle’s windshield wipers were damaged and someone scratched “PIG”
into its side. Though the government previously has acknowledged it
isn’t alleging any of the defendants perpetrated those specific acts of
vandalism, Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan on Monday argued with
Perry that he would try to prove that they participated in what he
called a “joint venture,” which he said was “obvious” from video of the
incident.
“Oh, I disagree,” the judge said, though she did rule to allow
prosecutors to use protester chants as evidence in trial.
In October the group was charged with the overarching conspiracy count
in addition to individual charges of misdemeanor simple assault of a
federal officer, which does not require physical contact.
It’s rare for a federal trial to proceed on only misdemeanor charges,
but Perry noted she would tell the group of prospective jurors — all 90
of them — the trial could take up to two weeks.
Also on Monday, the judge made rulings on minor aspects of the trial.
But even those weren’t conflict-free. Defense attorneys, for example,
wanted to ban prosecutors from using the word “mob” to describe the
crowd of protesters. Molly Armour, a lawyer for Abughazaleh, complained
that the term “implies some level of criminality.”
Incredulous, Perry shot back that the government had “actually charged
your clients with criminality” so it shouldn’t necessarily be a surprise
that prosecutors would want to be free to imply such a thing to the
jury.
“And if it’s not proved, it’s not proved and they look foolish,” the
judge said, chiding the lawyers for asking to bar things from trial that
she deemed “worth arguing about before the jury.”
“Same with calling ‘Agent A’ a ‘victim,’” Perry said. “If they argue
he’s a victim, you’ll be able to share your thoughts on his lack of
victimhood.”
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