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ICE ASSAULTS CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE KAT ABUGHAZALEH AT CHICAGO
PROTEST  
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Amy Goodman, Juan González, Kat Abughazaleh
September 23, 2025
Democracy Now!
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_ Illinois Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was
thrown to the ground by ICE agents on Friday during a protest outside
the Broadview Processing Center in Chicago, where immigrant detainees
are held. _

Kat Abughazaleh Assaulted by ICE, Democracy Now!

 

Illinois Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was thrown
to the ground by ICE agents on Friday during a protest outside the
Broadview Processing Center in Chicago, where immigrant detainees are
held. At least 10 people were arrested as federal agents fired pepper
balls and tear gas into the crowd, which was there to oppose the Trump
administration’s immigration crackdown known as “Operation Midway
Blitz.”

“If they are willing to do that to a congressional candidate on
camera in front of press, imagine what they are willing to do to their
detainees behind boarded-up windows,” says Abughazaleh.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is _Democracy Now!_, democracynow.org. I’m Amy
Goodman, with Juan González.

We end today’s show in Chicago, where Juan is. As at least 10 people
were arrested in protests outside an ICE facility Friday, with
federal immigration agents firing pepper balls and using tear gas on
the crowd, Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was
thrown to the ground by ICE agents. People had rallied outside the
facility to protest the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway
Blitz,” which has led to the arrest of nearly 550 people in a
sweeping crackdown on immigrants in the city.

We are going to Chicago, where we’re joined by Kat Abughazaleh, who
is a progressive congressional candidate in Illinois’s 9th District,
which includes Chicago.

Kat, welcome to _Democracy Now!_ Describe what happened to you.
We’re going to show the video.

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: Yeah, so, this is actually the third time
that ICE has thrown me to the ground. I have been at this facility
for the last three weeks every Friday morning, and I’ll be back this
Friday. I encourage anyone in Illinois to join me, 7 to 9 a.m. at 1930
Beach Street, B-E-A-C-H. This was, as I said, the third time
that ICE has done this to me. It was probably the most violent
occasion of throwing me to the ground. But, essentially, a car was
about to run over a fellow protester, and so I went to check on that
person. And that was all the justification an officer needed to pick
me up and throw me to the ground despite being half his size.

And what I really want to stress here is that is what these officers
are willing to do when there is press and cameras around. The reason
we are protesting at this facility is because they are committing
human rights abuses within the Broadview processing facility. It is a
processing facility, so people are not supposed to be kept there for
more than 12 hours at a time, but they are being kept for days or
weeks, without beds, without hot meals, with hygienic products. And if
they are willing to do that to a congressional candidate on camera in
front of press, imagine what they are willing to do to their detainees
behind boarded-up windows.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Kat, you say you found two badges there. What
did it say on the badges?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: So, I have no idea, the people who have accosted
me. I have no idea who they are. I have no idea who these men are.
They have had masks and sunglasses and hats, sometimes when the sun is
still down. We have seen two badge numbers the entire three weeks that
we have been here — four weeks, if we include a vigil earlier in the
summer — and they were just numbers. There was no name, and there
was no identifying law enforcement agency. I have no idea if these men
are actually affiliated with ICE. For all I know, this could just be
random men who said, “I’m going to put on a mask and a costume I
got from Spirit Halloween to make me feel like I’m in the Army, and
go and rough up some protesters today.” We have no idea who these
people are.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of what you know about the conditions
in the Broadview facility, could you talk about that?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: Yes, this Broadview facility is horrific. We’ve
gotten reporting about dozens of people being kept in one cell. And
these are our neighbors. These are pregnant women and grandmothers
sleeping on concrete floors. I have not been inside the facility.
Elected officials that have tried to inspect it have not been allowed
inside. But I can attest that two weeks ago, when I saw prisoners
being marched into a van, they were in the same clothes they were
detained in, and we have no idea how long they’ve been in there, and
they were in the same clothes they were detained in. The conditions at
this facility are horrendous. They are committing crimes against
humanity. And it is so important to remember that all of the treatment
that we went through as protesters doesn’t hold a candle to what
these detainees are dealing with. I mean, ICE agents shot and killed
a man two Fridays ago in the Chicago area. They are able to act with
impunity. They are able to hurt whoever they want. Last Friday was the
first time they had taken protesters inside the facility.

And while the video of me being thrown to the ground has gone kind of
viral, I want to talk about a few other things that happened that day,
because they haven’t been covered as much. We had to play tug of war
with a man’s body to keep him from being abducted inside the
facility. Right before we were tear-gassed, ICE was carrying a van
with a protester that had been detained inside of the van. We stood
arm in arm. All this is happening on Broadview public property, on
public streets. They tried to ram the van through us. A man fell in
front of the van, and the van was going to drive over his head, and I
helped him up before that happened. But they were totally willing to
do that. They shot a man in the face with a pepper ball bullet. They
tear-gassed us as they were trying to drive a car through a crowd. And
then, after that, they threw a tear gas canister at the press area,
very intentionally, after protesters were already dispersing, because,
you know, we were coughing and trying to get tear gas out of our eyes.

AMY GOODMAN: Kat Abughazaleh, you are running for Congress, a
congressional candidate in Illinois’s 9th District, which includes
Chicago. The election is in November of ’26, the ultimate election.
Why are you running for Congress?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: I’m a researcher and journalist who covers the
far right. I have spent my career deradicalizing and educating people
on far-right narratives and misinformation. I have spent my career,
just as my colleagues have, trying to get Democrats to put up a
resistance to the far right, to understand that the old playbook is
gone and that it’s not coming back. And I don’t feel like our
leaders are doing that. And so I got sick of waiting around, and I
decided to run the type of campaign I think we should.

And that is with unapologetic progressivism, anti-fascism and using
our resources to materially improve people’s lives right now. So, we
do voter outreach, but our campaign office also doubles as a mutual
aid hub. We don’t ask for $500 a plate at an event. For our kickoff
event, for instance, we asked people to bring a box of pads or tampons
for Chicago’s Period Collective. We are about mobilizing people on
the ground right now and making politics as accessible as possible,
while also not compromising on basic human rights.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you’re running for the seat to replace Jan
Schakowsky, who’s retiring. There are several other candidates
running in that field right now. Why do you think that voters would be
best choosing you as the candidate?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: You know, Illinois does a lot of things right, and
that’s the reason they aren’t dealing with, until very recently,
people like Stephen Miller and Elon Musk on a daily basis. I have
been. I am the only candidate in my race with a track record of
fighting and winning against the far right.

I am the most effective communicator in my race. And I am the only
candidate in my race to have the majority of her money come from
small-dollar donations. We’ve raised over a million dollars, and our
average donation is just 32 bucks. We have over 7,000 volunteers, and
that’s not because I’m some force. It’s because people want
progressive policies. They want commonsense policies. They want a
center that recenters — 

AMY GOODMAN: Five seconds.

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: — actual voters. And that’s what we deserve
from our leaders.

AMY GOODMAN: Kat Abughazaleh, I want to thank you for being with us,
progressive congressional candidate in Illinois’s 9th District,
which includes Chicago. That does it for our show. I’m Amy Goodman,
with Juan González.

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Topics

* Congress [[link removed]]
* Immigrant Rights
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* Immigration [[link removed]]
* Chicago [[link removed]]

Guests

* Kat Abughazaleh
[[link removed]]
congressional candidate in Illinois’s 9th District.

Links

* Kat for Congress [[link removed]]

Image Credit: X/@KatAbughazaleh

Illinois Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was thrown
to the ground by ICE agents on Friday during a protest outside the
Broadview Processing Center in Chicago, where immigrant detainees are
held. At least 10 people were arrested as federal agents fired pepper
balls and tear gas into the crowd, which was there to oppose the Trump
administration’s immigration crackdown known as “Operation Midway
Blitz.”

“If they are willing to do that to a congressional candidate on
camera in front of press, imagine what they are willing to do to their
detainees behind boarded-up windows,” says Abughazaleh.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is _Democracy Now!_, democracynow.org. I’m Amy
Goodman, with Juan González.

We end today’s show in Chicago, where Juan is. As at least 10 people
were arrested in protests outside an ICE facility Friday, with
federal immigration agents firing pepper balls and using tear gas on
the crowd, Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was
thrown to the ground by ICE agents. People had rallied outside the
facility to protest the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway
Blitz,” which has led to the arrest of nearly 550 people in a
sweeping crackdown on immigrants in the city.

We are going to Chicago, where we’re joined by Kat Abughazaleh, who
is a progressive congressional candidate in Illinois’s 9th District,
which includes Chicago.

Kat, welcome to _Democracy Now!_ Describe what happened to you.
We’re going to show the video.

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: Yeah, so, this is actually the third time
that ICE has thrown me to the ground. I have been at this facility
for the last three weeks every Friday morning, and I’ll be back this
Friday. I encourage anyone in Illinois to join me, 7 to 9 a.m. at 1930
Beach Street, B-E-A-C-H. This was, as I said, the third time
that ICE has done this to me. It was probably the most violent
occasion of throwing me to the ground. But, essentially, a car was
about to run over a fellow protester, and so I went to check on that
person. And that was all the justification an officer needed to pick
me up and throw me to the ground despite being half his size.

And what I really want to stress here is that is what these officers
are willing to do when there is press and cameras around. The reason
we are protesting at this facility is because they are committing
human rights abuses within the Broadview processing facility. It is a
processing facility, so people are not supposed to be kept there for
more than 12 hours at a time, but they are being kept for days or
weeks, without beds, without hot meals, with hygienic products. And if
they are willing to do that to a congressional candidate on camera in
front of press, imagine what they are willing to do to their detainees
behind boarded-up windows.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Kat, you say you found two badges there. What
did it say on the badges?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: So, I have no idea, the people who have accosted
me. I have no idea who they are. I have no idea who these men are.
They have had masks and sunglasses and hats, sometimes when the sun is
still down. We have seen two badge numbers the entire three weeks that
we have been here — four weeks, if we include a vigil earlier in the
summer — and they were just numbers. There was no name, and there
was no identifying law enforcement agency. I have no idea if these men
are actually affiliated with ICE. For all I know, this could just be
random men who said, “I’m going to put on a mask and a costume I
got from Spirit Halloween to make me feel like I’m in the Army, and
go and rough up some protesters today.” We have no idea who these
people are.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of what you know about the conditions
in the Broadview facility, could you talk about that?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: Yes, this Broadview facility is horrific. We’ve
gotten reporting about dozens of people being kept in one cell. And
these are our neighbors. These are pregnant women and grandmothers
sleeping on concrete floors. I have not been inside the facility.
Elected officials that have tried to inspect it have not been allowed
inside. But I can attest that two weeks ago, when I saw prisoners
being marched into a van, they were in the same clothes they were
detained in, and we have no idea how long they’ve been in there, and
they were in the same clothes they were detained in. The conditions at
this facility are horrendous. They are committing crimes against
humanity. And it is so important to remember that all of the treatment
that we went through as protesters doesn’t hold a candle to what
these detainees are dealing with. I mean, ICE agents shot and killed
a man two Fridays ago in the Chicago area. They are able to act with
impunity. They are able to hurt whoever they want. Last Friday was the
first time they had taken protesters inside the facility.

And while the video of me being thrown to the ground has gone kind of
viral, I want to talk about a few other things that happened that day,
because they haven’t been covered as much. We had to play tug of war
with a man’s body to keep him from being abducted inside the
facility. Right before we were tear-gassed, ICE was carrying a van
with a protester that had been detained inside of the van. We stood
arm in arm. All this is happening on Broadview public property, on
public streets. They tried to ram the van through us. A man fell in
front of the van, and the van was going to drive over his head, and I
helped him up before that happened. But they were totally willing to
do that. They shot a man in the face with a pepper ball bullet. They
tear-gassed us as they were trying to drive a car through a crowd. And
then, after that, they threw a tear gas canister at the press area,
very intentionally, after protesters were already dispersing, because,
you know, we were coughing and trying to get tear gas out of our eyes.

AMY GOODMAN: Kat Abughazaleh, you are running for Congress, a
congressional candidate in Illinois’s 9th District, which includes
Chicago. The election is in November of ’26, the ultimate election.
Why are you running for Congress?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: I’m a researcher and journalist who covers the
far right. I have spent my career deradicalizing and educating people
on far-right narratives and misinformation. I have spent my career,
just as my colleagues have, trying to get Democrats to put up a
resistance to the far right, to understand that the old playbook is
gone and that it’s not coming back. And I don’t feel like our
leaders are doing that. And so I got sick of waiting around, and I
decided to run the type of campaign I think we should.

And that is with unapologetic progressivism, anti-fascism and using
our resources to materially improve people’s lives right now. So, we
do voter outreach, but our campaign office also doubles as a mutual
aid hub. We don’t ask for $500 a plate at an event. For our kickoff
event, for instance, we asked people to bring a box of pads or tampons
for Chicago’s Period Collective. We are about mobilizing people on
the ground right now and making politics as accessible as possible,
while also not compromising on basic human rights.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And you’re running for the seat to replace Jan
Schakowsky, who’s retiring. There are several other candidates
running in that field right now. Why do you think that voters would be
best choosing you as the candidate?

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: You know, Illinois does a lot of things right, and
that’s the reason they aren’t dealing with, until very recently,
people like Stephen Miller and Elon Musk on a daily basis. I have
been. I am the only candidate in my race with a track record of
fighting and winning against the far right.

I am the most effective communicator in my race. And I am the only
candidate in my race to have the majority of her money come from
small-dollar donations. We’ve raised over a million dollars, and our
average donation is just 32 bucks. We have over 7,000 volunteers, and
that’s not because I’m some force. It’s because people want
progressive policies. They want commonsense policies. They want a
center that recenters — 

AMY GOODMAN: Five seconds.

KAT ABUGHAZALEH: — actual voters. And that’s what we deserve
from our leaders.

AMY GOODMAN: Kat Abughazaleh, I want to thank you for being with us,
progressive congressional candidate in Illinois’s 9th District,
which includes Chicago. That does it for our show. I’m Amy Goodman,
with Juan González.

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_AMY GOODMAN is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated
columnist, investigative reporter, and author._

_JUAN GONZÁLEZ has emerged over the past 50 years as a nationally
known Latino journalist, social activist, author, and public
intellectual. He was a staff columnist for New York’s Daily
News from 1987 to 2016 and has been a co-host since 1996
of Democracy Now, a daily morning news show that airs on more than
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and Latin America._

_DEMOCRACY NOW! produces a daily, global, independent news hour hosted
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