Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest

Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh was charged earlier this week with federal conspiracy charges for protesting outside of Broadview ICE Processing Center last month. Related Trump DOJ Charges House Candidate Kat Abughazaleh With Conspiracy for Protesting ICE Along with five others, Abughazaleh was indicted on felony charges for assaulting and conspiring to injure law enforcement officers. The 11-page indictment alleges the protesters “banged aggressively” on a federal agent’s car and “pushed against the vehicle to hinder and impede its movement.” They also allegedly scratched the word “pig” onto the vehicle. Abughazaleh, a candidate in the Democratic primary for Illinois’s 9th Congressional District, spoke to The Intercept Briefing just days after the charges were unsealed. “This case against me, this indictment, is a clear attack on free speech, freedom of association, the right to protest,” she says. “This indictment is so breathtaking in just how obviously it is trying to criminalize the right to protest. And it’s ludicrous to me that any elected official that’s sworn to protect the Constitution wouldn’t look at it and think, where the hell are we right now?” At an earlier protest at the same facility, the former journalist was filmed being slammed to the ground by ICE agents. That video went viral sparking outrage, and she’s urging other elected officials to fight back. “I feel like we as citizens are told to do so much — and then our leaders aren’t matching that. Part of it is they’re scared. This is a scary time. And there are threats from the administration, but also supporters. We’ve had a rise in political violence,” Abughazaleh challenges. “And this sounds callous, but you asked hundreds of thousands of people to vote for you. You asked to represent them. This is a job. You need to do your job even if you’re scared, because that’s what people deserve from their leaders.” The protesters are set to appear in court for their arraignment on November 5. If convicted, they could face up to six years in prison. Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Transcript Jessica Washington: Welcome to The Intercept Briefing, I’m Jessica Washington.  On Wednesday, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment, charging Illinois congressional candidate and activist Kat Abughazaleh with federal conspiracy charges along with five other demonstrators for protesting outside of Broadview ICE Processing Center.  She now faces up to six years in prison if convicted. Abughazaleh and her supporters have denounced the indictment as “political prosecution” and an attempt to silence protesters’ First Amendment rights in the wake of an unprecedented assault on civil liberties in Chicago and nationwide. But critics accuse her of playing into Trump’s narrative of lawlessness in majority Democratic cities. Related Feds Say Kat Abughazaleh “Impeded” ICE Agents. That Would Put Her on the Right Side of History. At a time when voters are clamoring for elected officials to stand up to Donald Trump and his growing authoritarianism, Abughazeleh has set herself apart from other Democrats for her willingness to take to the streets and put her body and future on the line.  Joining me now to discuss what’s happening in Chicago and her vision for leadership is Kat Abughazeleh. Kat, welcome to the show.  Kat Abughazaleh: Thank you so much for having me. JW: On Wednesday, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment which charges you and five other protesters with federal conspiracy for protesting outside of the Broadview Ice Processing Center. While I know you can’t share specific details of the alleged incident, what can you share? KA: I can share the reason we were protesting. I can share ICE’s reaction to that on the ground. The reason we were protesting in the first place was because of the conditions in the Broadview Processing Center and ICE’s terror campaign in Chicago.  Months ago, we heard about people being held for days or weeks in a facility you’re only supposed to spend a max of 12 hours in without beds, without hot meals, without access to hygienic facilities — and now it’s gotten worse. We have heard about people being carried out in stretchers, going into cardiac arrest, being denied water. At other facilities, people miscarrying. Of people being given fake translators so they’ll sign their own deportation notices. This is not OK. These are crimes against humanity, and it needs to stop. And ICE’s reaction has been to brutalize protesters, to terrorize Chicago. “What are they willing to do behind boarded-up windows?” What I stress to people — especially when they see videos of myself or people around me being tear-gassed or hit or thrown or dragged by ICE — is what we are going through on camera, that’s what they’re willing to do in front of others. What are they willing to do behind boarded-up windows? JW: Over the last few months, you’ve been noticeably involved in protests more than we typically see from people running for public office. What do you think opponents of Trump should be doing, specifically elected officials?  KA: They need to be out here. They need to be standing with their constituents. The thing about fascism is it doesn’t come for the most powerful political figures, the elected officials first. It comes for 238 men who are deported to a concentration camp in another country without due process. And the longer this fascist slide goes, the harder it is to resist. Related Trump Is Prosecuting a Congressional Democrat for Doing Her Job. The Media’s Response: No Big Deal. That’s why we have needed, and we still need, our leaders to be physically standing up for the people they represent — whether that is coming back week after week to inspect ICE facilities, whether that is doing patrols in your neighborhood, or standing between agents and your constituents. You need to be out there. It is not enough to just say things. You have to actually act on what you say as well. JW: You’ve just mentioned a number of civil liberties violations, but one you’ve also touched on before is freedom of speech. Do you believe that freedom of speech is under attack, and what does that mean to you? KA: Absolutely. This case against me, this indictment, is a clear attack on free speech, freedom of association, the right to protest. Free speech, to me, is about the government specifically. I’ve been covering the right for a long time, and there’s often this idea that, like, people can’t get mad at you for what you say — and that’s free speech. And that’s not the case. Freedom of speech is knowing you can criticize the government without the government punishing you for criticizing it, for protesting. You know that you have the right to speak out. You know that there is something more than just this administration, that we have these inherent rights. “Freedom of speech is knowing you can criticize the government without the government punishing you for criticizing it.” Free speech is the foundation of this country. It’s number one on the Bill of Rights. This indictment is so breathtaking in just how obviously it is trying to criminalize the right to protest. And it’s ludicrous to me that any elected official that’s sworn to protect the Constitution wouldn’t look at it and think, “Where the hell are we right now?” JW: Do you think that your indictment was supposed to send a message to the other people who are protesting in the streets in Chicago and LA and other parts of the country? KA: Absolutely. This is supposed to scare people into silence, but this is actually, I think, the plan B. ICE has been terrorizing Chicago for months, and I think the Trump administration thought it would make people scared, that people would give up, that they would just stand back. And instead, Chicago has met it with consistent defiance. We wear whistles and do patrols through our neighborhoods. We stand up for each other. We have school watches. We know our rights. That’s one of the reasons Tom Homan doesn’t like this city. And so they went, “Wow. The physical terror campaign didn’t work. Let’s throw the federal legal system at someone and see if that will scare people into silence.” And it won’t for me. I hope it won’t for anyone else. “We know our rights. That’s one of the reasons Tom Homan doesn’t like this city.” JW: I want to take some of what you’ve been doing on the streets in Chicago and put that into the context of what you want to do in Congress. How does what you’re trying to accomplish at these protests reflect in the policies that you want to implement in Congress? KA: One of the tenets, not just of my campaign but of who I am as a person, is words aren’t enough. You need to match them with actions. That’s why my campaign uses its resources to not just reach voters but materially improve their lives. “I want to live in a country where everyone can afford housing, groceries, and health care, with money left over to save and spend.” Our office doubles as a mutual aid hub. We have backpack drives, food drives, we had a coat drive for the winter. And we’re still, every day, trying to improve the community even before Election Day. And I think it’s also representative of the world I want to see, the policies I want to push. And I think that’s part of the reason people have felt so disillusioned with politics is they don’t believe anyone in office. Because there’s this idea of, like, “I’m so helpless right now, but if you elect me, I can change things in November.” I don’t think we have to do that. I don’t think we have to wait. I want to live in a country where everyone can afford housing, groceries, and health care, with money left over to save and spend. As far as immigration, we need an easier immigration process. We need people, we need Dreamers to have a clear pathway to citizenship. We need to ensure that ICE is abolished. Any agency that can turn into what this is, should not exist anymore, and we also need to make sure that these agents are held accountable. We can’t just pretend this was a bad dream. We need trials. And it’s been unbelievable — the entire time I have been protesting at the Broadview facility, I’ve seen two badges of ICE agents or DHS — I don’t even know what agency they belong to because it didn’t say. But specifically when it comes to what we’re seeing on the ground: abolishing ICE, limiting CBP’s jurisdiction, and holding these people accountable. JW: You’ve pointed out the kind of inaction of other politicians. Obviously many people are fed up with the Democratic Party for what they believe to be inaction. And I guess my question is, how do you see yourself within the broader context of the Democratic Party? KA: I see myself as — I’m just trying to do what I can to make things better. I’ve never been someone to sit on the sidelines or mince words, and so I’m willing to criticize what got us here, and part of that is huge missteps by Democratic leadership. But I also am running as a Democrat because this is the party of the New Deal and the Civil Rights Act. “ I’m trying to show and not tell what I think politics should be.” I think we can be better. I think that we can be a true opposition to Trump and not just represent the status quo, but something that helps us all. What I’m trying to do with my campaign, because I have a large platform that I built myself with my reporting, but it’s still a privilege to start a campaign with, I’m trying to show and not tell what I think politics should be. And that’s honest communication, that’s transparency, that’s having fun, that’s helping people on the ground with the resources that you have, and that’s boldly going forward and not being worried about if who you are at your core is going to hurt you on Election Day. Because if it is, that’s democracy, and you shouldn’t be elected. [Break] JW: Why do you think more Democrats aren’t taking direct action? What do you think is holding people back from doing the things that you’re doing?  KA: I think it’s kind of threefold with an extra like little reason zero. Reason zero is, if you’re in D.C. a lot, that takes a lot of time and you can’t always be in the neighborhood you live back home patrolling streets. And I think that is a fair excuse for that. But I think there’s a lot more that all of us could be doing. But particularly our leaders, I feel like we as citizens are told to do so much — and then our leaders aren’t matching that. Part of it is they’re scared. This is a scary time. And there are threats from the administration, but also supporters. We’ve had a rise in political violence. And this sounds callous, but you asked hundreds of thousands of people to vote for you. You asked to represent them. This is a job. You need to do your job even if you’re scared, because that’s what people deserve from their leaders. “It’s not 2012 anymore, and this isn’t the Republican Party you grew up with.” I think another reason is underestimating the moment we’re in — operating as if we are still in 2012. It’s not 2012 anymore, and this isn’t the Republican Party you grew up with. This is life or death, and it’s not just life or death just in Trump and ICE and all of these things that the administration’s actively pushing. It’s also about climate change. It’s also about the dissolution of our rights. It’s also about women bleeding out in hospitals as they’ve been for two years now because they can’t get the medical care they need if they live in a red state. So I think that’s the second reason. And third, it’s hard. It’s hard, and it’s rude. And if you’ve been in politics, especially if you’ve been in politics for a long time now, you want to break the mold a little bit. But breaking the mold all the way means being rude, means going out of your comfort zone and not immediately complying in advance with everything this administration says, because that’s the president. I think it’s just hard for people who have been in politics for a long time to do. And there’s still these ideas of decorum — but I’m sorry, when you’re rappelling into residential buildings from Black Hawk helicopters, I don’t give a fuck about decorum. That needs to stop. JW: Yeah, you’ve touched on the fear, and I want to pinpoint what you mean by that, because I think it’s interesting and people don’t necessarily know. Is the fear a fear of being harmed, or do you think the fear is more political? KA: Yes, I think both of those are true. There’s always the fear of not being reelected, which is why a lot of politicians spend so much time raising money instead of doing their jobs. And there’s this idea that we need to appeal to the center. Guess what? The center also does not like ICE terrorizing entire cities. And I’ll say this, I don’t think that we are looking at the proper center here. The center should be everyone can afford what they need and have equal rights. The center is not well, like, “ICE can do a little bit of scary stuff. They can do some raids, but maybe not all of them. Maybe the apartment building was a bit much.” No, that’s not — We need to abolish ICE. So there’s the fear of not being reelected, but there’s also the very real fear of personal safety. “I joke that covering the right for years is like the best training you can have for running for Congress.” I joke that covering the right for years is like the best training you can have for running for Congress because I have built like a thick skin. I’m very used to death threats. I’m very used to even worse threats. But a lot of our leaders aren’t, and so they’re seeing a rise in political violence. I’m sure their email inboxes are a mess, their notifications are a mess, and they’re scared of that. I don’t mean to downplay it, that very real threat to their public safety, to their personal safety, and even their family’s safety. Once again, you asked people to vote for you. This is a job, and it’s a hard job, and if you are not prepared to do it — even if it means being brave, and being brave is not being unafraid, it’s doing something despite being afraid — someone else needs to take that job. JW: Can you just talk to me a little bit about the political violence that you’re potentially worried about facing? What has that been like for you to experience political violence at the hands of law enforcement? KA: I’ve been very used to death threats, rape threats, very descriptive angry messages in my inbox, in my notifications for years. But the thing about the right is a lot of these people are cowards. A lot of them don’t act on it. It’s to scare you. And so it’s gotten to the point where I kind of laugh it off, and I forget about the physical consequences if those things do happen. And in the last two months, I’ve been hit, thrown, hit with a baton, tear-gassed, shot with pepper balls to the point of bruising, groped. It’s weird. It’s so out of place. It feels like a different life — and then going and like to go get lunch afterwards. I know this sounds very disjointed, but it’s kind of hard to explain, especially because the difference of excessive force we’ve seen at protests in the past to what ICE is doing to protesters, it’s so much scarier, like it’s hard to articulate. I have played tug of war with a man’s body to keep him from being abducted into the facility, a protester, just not doing anything.  “The difference of excessive force we’ve seen at protests in the past to what ICE is doing to protesters, it’s so much scarier, like it’s hard to articulate.” I have seen these men in full military gear that are just trying to find any excuse to brutalize people. And there’s no accountability. Like when you see excessive force of protests, you know that there’s usually at least a semblance of a system to find that person, to bring them home. Like hopefully you’ll get accountability, maybe you won’t. But with ICE, it’s like they can just do whatever they want, and you don’t know who they are. And so that’s been really, really scary. Read our complete coverage Chilling Dissent JW: You’ve spent years examining and critiquing right-wing media and messaging. How has that affected how you engage in protests and also the messaging that you engage in? KA: It makes me aware of how our leaders should be responding to the right — and that’s not by compromising, that’s not by folding. It’s by embracing and actually believing in something. Like we have Republicans that contact us and are like, “Hey, I don’t know if I agree with everything you say, but I think you genuinely believe it.” Related The Struggle for the Future of the New York Democratic Party And even after the video of me being thrown to the ground by ICE, we’ve had Republicans in the district also be like, “I don’t know how I feel about ICE,” because they’re actively being terrorized as well, it doesn’t just affect Democrats. “But I do think, like I love the fact that you stood up for something,” and that’s really what it comes down to.  Our system is built to try to make us feel like it’s me against you, and it’s really us against a few very powerful, very wealthy individuals, and we don’t deserve to have secret police busting into our homes. When I am protesting, I would be there no matter what I was doing, whether I’m running for office, whether I was still a journalist, whether I was a bartender at this point as I was years ago. God, I feel so old, I’m 26. But I just really think that you have to actually believe in something. If you believe in something strong enough, you’d be able to stand up for it. JW: What do you believe that your constituents want from a representative? “ I love asking people, what do you care about?” KA: Oh, I know what they want. What I have heard time and time again is they want a fighter. They want someone that’s willing to fight for them and listen. And that’s what I’m willing to do. And this is something we see nationwide. I love asking people, what do you care about? Because I used to get really, even before running for office — I’m nosy and like hearing this from people. And I used to get a lot of really varied responses. And now it’s just everything. Everyone says, I care about everything, and I’m scared of everything, and I want to fight back against everything. They feel like a lot of our leaders — less so in Illinois but just nationwide, especially in D.C. where everyone’s actions affect all of us, it doesn’t just affect your state — they feel like people aren’t fighting back in such a Democratic district. They feel like the Democratic Party isn’t putting up any bit of a fight. JW: Do you plan on continuing to protest and continuing to use your voice? KA: Absolutely. A year and two days ago, I was being deposed by Elon Musk for working at Media Matters. Three days ago, I was indicted by the federal government. And in both of those I just keep thinking like, if this is supposed to be an intimidation tactic, you really picked the wrong girl. I’m going to keep speaking out. I’m going to stand up for immigrants, for all of our rights, and I hope everyone will do the same. “If this is supposed to be an intimidation tactic, you really picked the wrong girl.” JW: Well, we’re going to leave it there, but thank you for joining me on the Intercept Briefing. KA: Thank you so much. JW: Thank you for listening.  We want to hear from you. What do you want to see more coverage of? Are you taking political action? Are there organizing efforts in your community you want to shout out? Shoot us an email at [email protected]. Or leave us a voice mail at 530-POD-CAST. That’s 530-763-2278. This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Sumi Aggarwal is our executive producer. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Chelsey B. Coombs is our social and video producer. Fei Liu is our product and design manager. Nara Shin is our copy editor. Will Stanton mixed our show. Legal review by David Bralow. Slip Stream provided our theme music. 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