A former journalist and current Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois was violently thrown to the ground by a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer during a protest Friday morning.
Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old who announced her candidacy for Illinois’ 9th District in March, joined other demonstrators outside an ICE processing facility in Broadview when federal officers responded with violence.
Video captured the moment at around 6:30 a.m. when an unidentified officer grabbed Abughazaleh across the chest, pushed her forward, picked her up and slammed her into the pavement.
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Abughazaleh told HuffPost that later in the morning, she and other protesters attempted to block a van after agents arrested a protester in what Abughazaleh described as a “kidnapping.”
“This has never happened at one of these protests, where they kidnapped a protester,” Abughazaleh said. “And we saw through the gate that they were in chains being put in a van. And so everyone that was there joined arm-in-arm to block the van and tried to rescue the person who was exercising their First Amendment rights.”
Federal agents responded by deploying tear gas and firing pepper balls at demonstrators. Abughazaleh said one agent told her, “Your First Amendment rights are on the sidewalk.”
At least two people were arrested during the protest. And NBC Chicago reporter Jenn Schanz said members of the media were targeted with chemical agents as well.
“We just got sprayed with ― I don’t know if it was tear gas, or pepper spray ― I know it stung my eyes,” Schanz said. “It was very hard to breathe.”
“Me and several other members of the media had to leave, and run, and have some water,” Schanz added. “My eyes are still stinging a little bit.”
Abughazaleh told HuffPost that when she was thrown to the ground, she fell on her hands and skinned her fingers. It’ll probably hurt worse tomorrow, she said, but that’s not going to deter her from protesting.
“Now is not the time to equivocate on ICE, not the time to capitulate on ICE,” she said. “This facility is committing crimes against humanity. It is a processing facility, so people are not supposed to be held for more than 12 hours at a time. They are being held for days or even weeks at a time. It’s horrific. They’re not given beds, they’re not given hygienic products, they are not given hot meals. They are treated worse than animals.”
In response to the video, the Department of Homeland Security posted on X to warn that protesters “will not stop” ICE.
“Individuals and groups impeding ICE operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals,” the post said. “You will not stop @ICEgov and DHS law enforcement from enforcing our immigration laws.”
Abughazaleh, who previously worked for Media Matters covering right-wing extremism, said ignoring authoritarianism will “come back to bite you in the ass.”
“If I’ve learned anything through my work covering misinformation and disinformation and violent rhetoric on the right, it’s that it never stops with any one group,” she said. “And capitulating and making excuses will always come back to bite you in the ass ― not to mention that people’s basic humanity is being violated.”
Abughazaleh said she’s willing to be “manhandled by officers” if it means defending the vulnerable.
“I think it’s time to stop being polite,” she said. “It is time to yell. It is time to be out there. It is time to be willing to be manhandled by officers. Because guess what? The people in that facility are enduring even worse shit right now.”