DOJ Drops Chicago ICE Protest Charges After Judge Faults Grand Jury Conduct
Federal prosecutors have dropped all remaining charges against four Chicago-area anti-ICE protesters, ending a closely watched case that became a flashpoint in the national fight over immigration enforcement and protest rights.
The defendants — Kat Abughazaleh, Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin and Brian Straw — were among the group known as the Broadview Six. They had faced charges tied to a 2025 protest outside a federal immigration facility in Broadview, Illinois, during Operation Midway Blitz, a Trump administration immigration enforcement campaign.
The charges were dismissed with prejudice, which means prosecutors cannot bring the same charges again. According to Associated Press, the move followed allegations of misconduct in the grand jury process, including unauthorized communication between a prosecutor and a juror and concerns about how dissenting jurors were handled.
The legal consequence is significant. A case once presented as a federal response to obstruction of immigration enforcement collapsed before trial. The policy consequence is broader. It gives critics of aggressive immigration enforcement another example to point to when arguing that protest-related prosecutions can overreach.
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U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said the case would not continue, while also saying the protesters’ conduct was unacceptable, according to wire and local reports. Judge April Perry sharply criticized the breakdown in trust surrounding the case and may still consider sanctions tied to the prosecution’s handling.
The dismissal also lands amid a wider Chicago-area legal fight over immigration operations. A federal judge previously ordered limits on aggressive federal responses to protesters and journalists near ICE-related demonstrations, including restrictions on indiscriminate use of riot-control weapons.
Outside Illinois, the case matters because it sits at the intersection of three national issues: immigration enforcement, protest rights and DOJ credibility in politically charged prosecutions.
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