Crime & Law
Federal Prosecutors Drop Charges Against 2 of ‘Broadview 6’ in Conspiracy Case
Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, left, is seen along with a crowd around a vehicle on Sept. 26, 2025, outside the Broadview ICE facility. (Credit: Kat Abughazaleh)
Federal prosecutors intend to dismiss criminal charges against two of the so-called “Broadview Six” who are accused of interfering with Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations outside a suburban processing center.
Prosecutors filed a motion Thursday afternoon in which they plan to drop charges against Catherine Sharp and Joselyn Walsh, while continuing on in their case against four others — 9th Congressional District candidate Kat Abughazaleh, 45th Ward Democratic Committeeperson Michael Rabbitt, Oak Park Village Board Trustee Brian Straw and Andre Martin.
“As the United States Attorney’s Office does in every case, the government has continued to evaluate new facts, evidence, and information to ensure that the interests of justice are served,” Assistant U.S. Attorney William Hogan wrote in the motion.
Sharp, who had been running to represent the 12th District on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, suspended her campaign in January, citing the criminal case against her.
“This motion to dismiss proves what we have always known–that the indictment in this case was flawed from the outset,” Sharp said in a statement. “While I am of course elated at this outcome, ICE’s abuse of immigrants and refugees in our communities continues. Furthermore, it remains clear that none of the defendants in this case should have been charged. I am confident that all six of us will be vindicated.”
Prosecutors last month said they planned to narrow the scope of the high-profile case.
The charges stem from a confrontation just before 8 a.m. on Sept. 26 between protesters and federal agents outside ICE’s west suburban processing facility in Broadview. The indictment against the group alleges they surrounded a government vehicle, “with the intent to hinder and impede” a federal agent from proceeding to the Broadview facility and “discharging the duties of his office.”
According to the indictment, the group broke one of the vehicle’s side mirrors and a rear windshield wiper, scratched it and etched the word “PIG” into the vehicle itself.
In a video posted to her social media accounts that day, Abughazaleh and more than a dozen other protestors can be seen trying to physically prevent an SUV from entering the facility by pushing back on the car while chanting “up, up with liberation and down, down with deportations.”
Some members of the crowd pound on the car, which is seen slowly moving forward.
“While I’m relieved by the dismissal, it does not change the disruption it caused in my life for the past six months,” Walsh said in a statement. “It also does not change that I was a victim of ICE violence when they shot my guitar and that many continue to experience violence at the hands of federal agents in Chicago and across the country. We should all continue to question the ways this administration continues to criminalize dissent, and keep using our voices to fight back.”
Sharp, who will continue to work as chief of staff to Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th Ward), said in January that “navigating this unimaginable legal process and all the costs — emotional and financial —that come with it, have made running for office much more difficult,” calling her move to end her campaign the “responsible decision.”
Abughazaleh is set to face off against more than a dozen other Democrats in next week’s primary election race.
