ICE Agents Forcefully Remove Democrat Candidate Kat Abughazaleh After She Blocks Vehicle at Chicago Facility

Watch: Democrat Congressional Candidate Gets a Close-Up View of the Pavement After Trying to Block ICE

Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old social media influencer running in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, was physically removed from a protest at the Broadview ICE facility on Friday. Video from the scene shows agents clearing a path when protesters moved to block an exit, and Abughazaleh ended up on the ground after an agent pushed her out of the vehicle’s path. That quick takedown is what the internet now has on loop.

The candidate described the event as a peaceful protest, but the footage paints a different picture: someone trying to stop a federal vehicle from leaving a secure facility. Instead of standing with their hands up, participants got in front of traffic and forced a response. When you step into a moving vehicle’s path, you take responsibility for how things unfold.

One clip posted by NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley shows an agent grabbing Abughazaleh and shepherding her out of the way as an SUV tried to exit. She hits the asphalt shortly after, and the whole thing is over in seconds. The video makes it clear who was trying to obstruct movement and who was clearing the lane.

Abughazaleh quickly turned to social platforms to frame the incident as a First Amendment issue and to boost her campaign as a martyr for the cause. She posted the clip and used it to raise support and donations, which is a savvy influencer move even if the optics are messy. The reaction from her camp mixes grievance with self-promotion in the same breath.

She told reporters, “All of us joined arms, we did not let the van pass. ICE came in and tried to drive the car through us, they almost ran someone over,” She said. That is the direct quote she gave to the media, and it’s being used to justify the protest narrative. But the video leaves room for a different interpretation.

Rather than acknowledge that she and others actively blocked the vehicle, Abughazaleh framed the removal as an attack on free speech. She also turned the footage into campaign material within hours, leveraging victimhood for political gain. That’s a familiar playbook for influencer-activists turned candidates.

The moment when agents moved the crowd looks routine for law enforcement: clear a path, remove obstructions, secure an exit. It’s not violence for its own sake. It’s a predictable reaction to people putting themselves where vehicles need to go.

Another clip shows Abughazaleh sitting on the pavement, holding signs, and chanting that ICE is “fascist” and “racist.” People in the video are vocal, passionate, and intentionally disruptive. Obstruction is a tactic that comes with predictable consequences when federal officers have to keep people safe.

At one point, the scene resembled other viral protests where activists try to physically block traffic and then cry foul when security reacts. A handful of demonstrators put themselves at risk and then accused authorities of overreach. Calling it a First Amendment crisis ignores the simple fact that there are rules around blocking federal operations.

Comparisons to past stunts are inevitable. Authorities have had to remove protesters who refuse to move for years, and those confrontations rarely end the way activists plan. When protests become blockades, you remove the blockade. It really is that straightforward.

Some supporters will say agents used excessive force, while others will rightly note that a federal facility is a different environment than a public park. Federal operations involve equipment, vehicles, and officers with a duty to protect both the public and personnel. Crossing into obstruction invites countermeasures that are not aimed at punishing speech but at restoring order.

The campaign’s narrative frames the episode as part of a larger struggle against deportation policies, but the on-the-ground reality was messy and reckless. Abughazaleh’s activism is clearly calculated; she knows how to create viral moments and mobilize followers. If running for Congress means staging spectacles that risk public safety, voters should take note.

Beyond the local scene, ICE and DHS have been increasing operations in Chicago this week, and these heightened enforcement actions create a tense backdrop for protesters. Critics argue sanctuary policies make enforcement harder, and supporters counter that civil disobedience is necessary to highlight policy failures. Both sides are playing to their audiences while officials try to do the work their jobs require.

In New York and elsewhere, elected Democrats have participated in similar demonstrations and faced arrests for obstruction. Those incidents get spun as noble civil resistance, depending on who reports them. But when officials knowingly block federal operations, they’re testing legal boundaries and inviting enforcement responses.

Abughazaleh’s past ties to left-leaning media groups are part of the narrative the opposition pushes, painting her as another activist who swaps online clout for political ambition. Whether you call her a former Media Matters associate or an influencer turned candidate, the pattern is familiar: protest, viral clip, political capital. It’s the modern formula for ambition built on spectacle.

At the end of the day, this episode is a reminder that activism has consequences when it crosses into obstruction. Calling a forcible removal “suppression” doesn’t change the fact that someone tried to stop a federal vehicle. The lesson for would-be candidates everywhere is simple: staging chaos to gain attention can backfire, and in this case it landed a congressional hopeful flat on her back.