A former journalist and present Democratic congressional candidate in Illinois was violently thrown to the bottom by a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer throughout a protest Friday morning.
Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old who introduced her candidacy for Illinois’ ninth District in March, joined different demonstrators exterior an ICE processing facility in Broadview when federal officers responded with violence.
Video captured the second at round 6:30 a.m. when an unidentified officer grabbed Abughazaleh throughout the chest, pushed her ahead, picked her up and slammed her into the pavement.
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Abughazaleh instructed HuffPost that later within the morning, she and different protesters tried to dam a van after brokers 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 mentioned. “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 brokers responded by deploying tear fuel and firing pepper balls at demonstrators. Abughazaleh mentioned one agent instructed her, “Your First Amendment rights are on the sidewalk.”
At the very least two individuals have been arrested through the protest. And NBC Chicago reporter Jenn Schanz mentioned members of the media have been focused with chemical brokers as properly.
“We just got sprayed with ― I don’t know if it was tear gas, or pepper spray ― I know it stung my eyes,” Schanz mentioned. “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 instructed HuffPost that when she was thrown to the bottom, she fell on her arms and skinned her fingers. It’ll most likely harm worse tomorrow, she mentioned, however that’s not going to discourage her from protesting.
“Now is not the time to equivocate on ICE, not the time to capitulate on ICE,” she mentioned. “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 Division of Homeland Safety 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 submit mentioned. “You will not stop @ICEgov and DHS law enforcement from enforcing our immigration laws.”
Abughazaleh, who beforehand labored for Media Issues masking right-wing extremism, mentioned 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 mentioned. “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 mentioned she’s keen to be “manhandled by officers” if it means defending the susceptible.
“I think it’s time to stop being polite,” she mentioned. “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.”
