Crime & Law
Judge Denies ‘Field Trip’ Request to ICE Processing Center in Broadview Protester Trial
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)
Jurors at the upcoming trial of the remaining “Broadview Six” defendants will not be taken to a suburban immigration processing center despite a joint request from prosecutors and defendants to do so at trial.
U.S. District Judge April Perry on Monday rejected the request, saying she believes there’s no need for a jury “field trip” to the Broadview center and that the risk of something going wrong while there would be “massive.”
“I think it’s high-risk and low-reward,” Perry said.
The Broadview processing center has been the site of numerous protests following the launch last year of the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement efforts in Illinois under “Operation Midway Blitz.”
That includes the confrontation between protesters and federal agents on Sept. 26, 2025, that led to the charges in this politically charged case.
None of the attorneys present in court Monday could recall a single time when a jury was taken on such a trip, nor could Perry, who said she also spoke with several other judges at the Dirksen Federal Building.
Perry said such a trip would be a waste of time and taxpayer dollars in a misdemeanor trial that is expected to last no more than a couple weeks. She added that if granted, it would be exceedingly likely protesters would be present when the jury was brought to the controversial site and that she couldn’t guarantee that jurors would be kept safe or not be exposed to prejudicial material.
She said the area where the confrontation occurred was simply an intersection, not some “exotic locale,” and that such a trip would likely lead to a mistrial “almost immediately.”
“I also think the risk of something going wrong is massive,” she said in denying the motion.
The criminal case has been among the most high-profile incidents stemming from the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement efforts during “Operation Midway Blitz.”
Already prosecutors dismissed all charges against two of the six initial defendants, Catherine Sharp and Joselyn Walsh. But the four others — Kat Abughazaleh, Michael Rabbitt, Andre Martin and Brian Straw — are still set to go to trial on misdemeanor counts of forcibly impeding a federal agent.
All four of the remaining defendants were re-arraigned Monday and once again entered pleas of not guilty following the government’s filing of a superseding information that drops the felony conspiracy charges against the group.
An initial indictment against the group alleged they conspired to surround an Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle, “with the intent to hinder and impede” a federal agent from proceeding to the Broadview facility and “discharging the duties of his office.”
Perry ruled on numerous pretrial motions during Monday’s hearing, including that while federal prosecutors won’t be able to call the defendants “rioters” or “domestic terrorists,” prosecutors will be allowed to argue they were members of a “mob.”
Defense attorneys argued that referring to the group of protesters as a “mob” could present negative connotations to jurors and imply some “level of criminality.” Perry noted that since prosecutors charged the four with a crime, they likely will try to imply some “criminality” took place.
“I do not think this is worth arguing about,” Perry said.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin next week in a trial that is not expected to last more than two weeks.
