The Government Tried to Villainize Us: Broadview 6 Defendants Speak Out After Charges Dropped

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AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now!

As we continue to look at the Broadview 6 case, we’re joined by two of the activists indicted: Kat Abughazaleh, who recently ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Michael Rabbitt, Democratic committeeperson in Chicago’s 45th Ward. They were arrested, then indicted, for protesting last year outside the Broadview ICE jail during Trump’s so-called Operation Midway Blitz crackdown, when hundreds of masked federal immigration agents flooded the streets of Chicago. The charges against them were dropped last month.

So, Kat, the charges were dropped against you. What did that mean? What did these charges mean? Explain what you were doing that day, and the fact, Kat Abughazaleh, you weren’t arrested that day. This came weeks later, and you were running for Congress.

KAT ABUGHAZALEH : Yeah, I mean, it’s impossible to talk about these charges without also talking about the conditions at the place we were protesting, the Broadview Processing Center, where ICE headquarters its operations in Chicago, which essentially functions as a concentration camp. People are denied basic human rights. They are denied translators. So, they are forced to sign their own self-deportations, while also being denied water, food, access to hygienic facilities. Pregnant women sleep on concrete. People are stuck, sleeping standing up because they’re packed in so tightly, which is why I and many others had been regularly protesting at Broadview.

And ICE had escalated its actions week after week. That day, we were hit by a car. ICE drove a car into a crowd. We weren’t arrested that day, but ICE still shot us with pepper bullets, rubber bullets. They deployed tear gas and flashbangs. But I didn’t find out that I had been indicted until a month after this happened.

These charges are simply for exercising our First Amendment rights. The government tried to villainize me and five other people for protesting — the very thing that makes America great, allegedly. And yet we were tried to — they tried to paint us as the villains, and we were actually the victims of a crime by an ICE agent.

AMY GOODMAN : I mean, we are watching the video right now as the car drives into you all. And you didn’t know each other, is that right? The so-called Broadview 6, you didn’t know all of each other.

KAT ABUGHAZALEH : Most of us did not know each other until we met in the courtroom and we were indicted on conspiracy.

AMY GOODMAN : But we’re watching the car drive into you, and the ICE agents are tear-gassing you all at the same time. Michael Rabbitt, you are a 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson in Chicago. Talk about how you heard about the charges against you, and what it did to your life.

MICHAEL RABBITT : So, my wife and I were on vacation celebrating our 30-year wedding anniversary in Portugal in mid- to late October. And as Kat mentioned, we weren’t arrested that day. So, I was rather shocked when I woke up in the morning and looked at my phone, and there was a message from the FBI saying that I had been indicted and needed to turn myself in the next day, or else there would be a warrant for my arrest. I was quite shocked by that message. I actually thought it was a scam. I honestly didn’t think it was real. I actually looked up the name of the FBI agent and U.S. attorney, assistant U.S. attorney, and found that it was real. And it was — it was quite shocking. And that was only [inaudible] —

AMY GOODMAN : We just have 30 seconds, but let me ask you: Were you afraid that you would get arrested coming into the country, or that you wouldn’t be allowed back into the U.S.?

MICHAEL RABBITT : Yes. So, I actually was warned by a congressperson that I may be detained upon arriving at O’Hare. So we actually had to make some arrangements in case that happened, which, needless to say, made the flight home a little stressful.

AMY GOODMAN : We’re going to continue this discussion post-show and post it online at democracynow.org. We’re talking to Kat Abughazaleh and Michael Rabbitt, two of the Broadview 6, though they might not have known each other before. Charges have been dropped against them. We’ll continue to cover this story.

That does it for our show. I’ll be at IFC on Thursday night at 6:30 in New York , then to Tampa to celebrate WMNF on Friday night, and then to Miami on Saturday and Sunday at the O Cinema. You can check our website at democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

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