Kat Abughazaleh says she's a former journalist who published pieces for Media Matters for America and Mother Jones. She's also running for Congress, "because we deserve Democrats who actually do something." Abughazaleh actually does stuff, such as obstructing ICE. The New Republic ran a piece on her Friday under the headline, "I’m a Congressional Candidate. I Was Assaulted by ICE."
As I told @newrepublic, "Once last week, twice today, ICE has picked me up and thrown me on the ground. Honestly, it doesn’t compare to what our neighbors who are trapped inside the Broadview processing facility are going through. They’re committing crimes against humanity…
— Kat Abughazaleh (@KatAbughazaleh) September 20, 2025
The New Republic reports:
On Friday, Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old Democratic U.S. House candidate in Illinois’s 9th congressional district, was thrown forcefully to the ground by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent at a protest outside an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. The incident garnered widespread attention after Abughazaleh shared the footage online.
Abughazaleh, a New Republic contributor, was among a crowd demonstrating outside the facility, which is being used in a controversial immigration enforcement operation underway in Illinois. Ostensibly a “processing facility” intended to hold detainees for no more than 12 hours at a time, the center has reportedly held detainees “for days or even weeks,” Abughazaleh said in a recent YouTube video. Protesters have gathered weekly outside the facility and on Friday were reportedly met with severe force: They were tackled, detained, tear-gassed, and pepper-sprayed by ICE agents, who were masked and clad in tactical gear.
First, the editor cautions against any reports of protesters being tear-gassed, particularly after a photo of protesters burning a flag outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland went viral with the caption that they were being tear-gassed. It was actually an officer with a small fire extinguisher.
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Here's that footage of Abughazaleh being forcefully thrown to the ground.
ILLINOIS — Trump’s Gestapo violently throws female congressional candidate @KatAbughazaleh to the ground pic.twitter.com/VL4TrSMHgx
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) September 19, 2025
Of course, Adam Kinzinger had to weigh in on the "masked cowards":
Look at these masked cowards https://t.co/gMHS4RUpkZ
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@AdamKinzinger) September 19, 2025
It looks to us like they were pulling her away from an ICE operation, and she slipped and fell on her butt. People had suggestions how she could avoid this happening in the future:
There’s an easy solution. You could stop blocking and obstructing ICE. And stop supporting criminal illegal aliens.
— Spitfire (@DogRightGirl) September 20, 2025
You forgot the part where you admitted to how many times you were guilty of obstruction.
— Wino Winnie 𝕏 (@Wino_Winnie) September 20, 2025
Hopeful next time they’ll just arrest you for obstruction.
— Just Jenn (@ZoeLightly) September 20, 2025
Alternately, you could just stop obstructing justice. 🤷♀️
You obstructed law enforcement. You should be in prison. You are not a victim.
— Cash Loren (@CashLorenShow) September 20, 2025
Sounds like a rough day
— BLOCKXS.COM (@blockxs) September 20, 2025
How's your right hip feeling right now? pic.twitter.com/oyUKlW3s6Y
— Jay Lawson (@LawsonJay) September 20, 2025
With cause.
— 🇺🇸Miz BetteJo🇺🇸 (@nickname_bj) September 20, 2025
I enjoyed watching that, thank you
— JD WILL (@jdwill0300) September 20, 2025
You put yourself in that situation with your performance art.
— If you have ghosts 🇺🇸 (@RedGhostLover) September 20, 2025
You got the attention you were looking for, but everyone is just laughing at you. BOUNCED!!
— Rogue on a Ridge (@RidgRnr79) September 20, 2025
But she's a congressional candidate! Hasn't she heard that even current members of Congress are being indicted for obstructing ICE? Although Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver says it’s “absurd” that she’s being charged after being caught on video assaulting an ICE agent.
"This is how a fully armored ICE agent treated me for peacefully protesting." Yes, and?
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Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.
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