Federal prosecutors drop conspiracy charge against remaining ‘Broadview Six’ defendants

After accusations flew in dueling legal filings earlier this week, a federal judge on Thursday officially dismissed the main conspiracy charge against the remaining “Broadview Six” immigration protesters indicted last fall.

A scheduled May 26 trial on misdemeanor counts is still moving forward, but U.S. District Judge April Perry noted the gravity of the moment in a brief hearing.

“Congratulations, you all are no longer charged with felonies,” she told the four remaining defendants.

The group, which includes former congressional candidate Katherine “Kat” Abughazaleh, was indicted in October in connection with a Sept. 26, 2025, demonstration outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview.

Social media video of the Sept. 26 protest posted by Abughazaleh, an influencer-turned-congressional candidate, captured the moment she and dozens of others surrounded an ICE vehicle that drove through the demonstrating crowd, banging on its windows. Prosecutors allege unidentified members of the crowd broke the SUV’s windshield wipers and scratched the word “PIG” onto a door.

A month later, Abughazaleh and five others were charged with an overarching count of felony conspiracy, which alleged they conspired to “interrupt, hinder, and impede” a federal immigration agent from the “discharge of his official duties.” They were also each individually charged with misdemeanor simple assault of a federal officer, which does not require physical contact.

In a surprise move last week, prosecutors said they would drop the conspiracy charge. While defense attorneys characterized it as a win for their clients, they also suggested it was a strategic move to avoid turning over unredacted transcripts of the three separate grand jury proceedings that led to the October indictment.

Prosecutors shot back Wednesday that defense attorneys were “histrionically” perceiving a normal practice as “nefarious.” Even so, they moved to dismiss the conspiracy count earlier than they’d planned.

“In order to alleviate defendants’ stated concerns, and avoid what would surely be further unnecessary and time-consuming litigation, not to mention a waste of this court’s resources, the government hereby formally moves to dismiss Count One of the original indictment with prejudice,” the feds wrote.

The defendants include Abughazaleh; her deputy campaign manager, Andre Martin; Chicago 45th Ward Democratic Committeeman Michael Rabbitt; and Oak Park Trustee Brian Straw.

Though Perry last appeared to agree with prosecutors’ assertion that the grand jury transcripts would be a moot issue after the conspiracy charge was dropped, as grand juries don’t consider misdemeanors, the judge on Thursday said she’d deal with the issue later this month.

Chris Parente, an attorney for Straw, told the judge that it would only take “two lines” in the transcript to prove possible prosecutorial misconduct in the grand jury proceedings.

“They’re playing some sort of weird shell game,” he told reporters after Thursday’s hearing, referring to prosecutors’ tight guard on the grand jury transcripts. “It’s just inappropriate for a courtroom.”