Oct 2025Justice system

A conspiracy indictment of six ICE protesters, dropped after misconduct before the grand jury

Ruled unlawfulLast checked Oct 6, 2026

Ruled unlawful means: A court ruled against it. Some rulings are on appeal.

In October 2025 federal prosecutors in Chicago indicted six people, most with ties to Democratic politics, on a felony conspiracy charge over a protest outside the ICE facility in Broadview. By May 2026 every charge was gone, the last of them dismissed with prejudice after the prosecutors' handling of the grand jury came to light.

What happened

The six included congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw and Chicago Democratic committeeperson Michael Rabbitt. They were accused of surrounding an ICE agent's vehicle during a late September 2025 protest, in the first weeks of Operation Midway Blitz, and said from the start that they had been singled out among dozens of protesters for political reasons. It took three grand jury sessions to get the indictment. Prosecutors dropped all charges against two defendants in March 2026, and the felony conspiracy charge against the other four was gone by early May, leaving misdemeanors set for trial on May 26. According to a record of a sealed hearing, the judge cited the lead prosecutor's putting her personal credibility behind the charges, communicating with grand jurors outside the grand jury room, and asking jurors who disagreed with the government's case not to take part in a later session. The transcripts first given to the judge were heavily redacted, and the U.S. attorney acknowledged that pages showing the errors were missing.

Where it stands

On May 21, 2026, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros appeared in person before U.S. District Judge April Perry in Chicago and dropped the remaining charges, and the case was dismissed with prejudice, which means it cannot be brought again. That ended the criminal case: the dismissal is final, and there is nothing left to appeal. Perry has not issued final findings on the prosecutors' conduct. She said in May that what happened before the grand jury could lead to sanctions. At a hearing on Oct. 1, 2026, the Chicago Sun-Times reported, she said she was not yet reaching conclusions about what occurred and that further fact-finding must be under oath. CBS Chicago reported that she will then decide whether a special prosecutor is needed to investigate the U.S. attorney's office for criminal contempt. The former lead prosecutor was fired from a new job in Washington in June, according to Capitol News Illinois, and resigned from the Justice Department in late September, writing that Boutros had personally directed the prosecution.

The administration's side

Boutros told the judge he took responsibility and that his office dismissed the indictment as soon as it became aware of the conduct in the grand jury. He said he sincerely believed that 'no prosecutor acted intentionally in misleading you', rejected the defense claim that the redactions were deliberate, and said his office still stood behind the charges it had been prepared to bring.

Sources

See it in the timeline

Permanent link: https://unredactedrecord.com/e/broadviewsix/