2026-05-21 20:53:56 / 路透社
- 摘要
- “布罗德韦尔六人组”曾被指控阻碍联邦官员执法
- 这是特朗普移民打击行动中又一起联邦案件被撤销
- 联邦特工去年秋季与芝加哥地区抗议者发生冲突
5月21日（路透社）——芝加哥联邦检察官安德鲁·布特罗斯表示，其办公室将撤销对四人的所有剩余刑事指控。这些人因去年在伊利诺伊州布罗德韦尔的一处拘押设施外抗议而被起诉。
原定于5月26日（周二）开庭审理的这起布罗德韦尔设施相关案件，曾是唐纳德·特朗普总统移民打击行动的一个焦点事件。检方决定撤销指控，使其成为又一起被推翻的司法部案件。
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据其办公室发言人透露，布特罗斯周三向联邦法官表示，对卡特·阿布加扎莱、安德烈·马丁、迈克尔·拉比特和布莱恩·斯特劳的指控将被附带禁止再次起诉的驳回裁定，即不得重新提起诉讼。前记者阿布加扎莱近期刚输掉美国众议院席位的民主党初选。
本月早些时候，检方已撤销对四人的重罪共谋指控，如今四人面临的轻罪阻碍联邦官员执法指控也被撤销。另外两名被告凯瑟琳·夏普和乔斯林·沃尔什的案件已于今年早些时候被检方彻底撤销，他们曾是“布罗德韦尔六人组”的成员。
“今天洗清罪名我松了一口气，但我想明确说明，过去七个月来对抗这些不公的联邦指控，绝不仅仅是为了我和本案的同案被告，”斯特劳在一份声明中说道。他是美国绿伯格特劳律师事务所的合伙人，同时也是芝加哥郊区橡树园村董事会成员。
马丁的律师特伦斯·坎贝尔和瓦莱丽·达文波特在一份声明中表示，他们的当事人和其他同案被告“仅仅因为作为体面、正直的公民行使第一修正案赋予的权利，并试图保护同胞，就一直面临入狱威胁”。
芝加哥联邦检察官办公室的发言人拒绝进一步置评。布特罗斯上个月曾表示，其办公室“一直在不断评估‘中途突袭行动’相关案件中的事实和法律，以及提交给我们的新信息”。
检方曾指控阿布加扎莱等人在9月26日的抗议活动中围堵一辆联邦特工驾驶的公务车，阻碍车辆驶入布罗德韦尔设施。他们据称曾敲打、推搡车辆，在车身上刮下“猪”字，并掰断了后雨刮器。
被称为“中途突袭行动”的特朗普政府移民打击行动，从9月持续到12月，联邦移民特工与抗议者发生冲突，造成数千人被捕。随身摄像头 footage 显示，特工枪击了两人，其中一人致死，并威胁要枪击其他人。
在布罗德韦尔移民拘押中心外以及芝加哥多个社区的近乎每日的抗议活动中，特工多次使用催泪瓦斯、胡椒弹和橡皮子弹驱散抗议者。伊利诺伊州州长JB·普利茨克上月成立的独立委员会建议，当地检察官应就联邦特工的不当行为展开调查。
本月，伊利诺伊州警察局表示，他们正在调查西尔维奥·维列加斯·冈萨雷斯的死亡案。他在芝加哥郊区被移民海关执法局的一名特工杀害。
在另一起被撤销的案件中，芝加哥联邦检察官办公室于11月20日撤销了对玛丽马尔·马丁内斯的指控。她曾被指控驾车冲撞特工，遭边境巡逻队特工枪击五次。10月5日，作为美国公民兼橡树园蒙特梭利学校教师的马丁内斯被起诉，罪名是使用致命武器阻碍联邦官员执法。
今年1月，芝加哥陪审团裁定胡安·埃斯皮诺萨·马丁内斯无罪。司法部此前指控他密谋暗杀一名知名边境巡逻官员。
戴维·托马斯报道
艾米丽·施马尔、戴维·格雷戈里 编辑
US drops case against protesters of Chicago immigration blitz
2026-05-21 20:53:56 / Reuters
Law enforcement officers during a standoff with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and federal officers in the Little Village neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, U.S., October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Jim Vondruska
- Summary
- ‘Broadview Six’ had been accused of impeding a federal officer
- Latest US case to fall apart in Trump immigration crackdown
- Federal agents clashed with Chicago-area protesters last fall
May 21 (Reuters) – Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said his office is dropping all remaining criminal charges against four people who were indicted after protesting last year outside a holding facility in Broadview, Illinois.
A trial had been scheduled to start Tuesday, May 26, in the incident at the Broadview facility, which became a flashpoint of President Donald Trump’s immigration blitz. The prosecution’s decision to drop the charges made it the latest Justice Department case to fall apart.
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Boutros told a federal judge on Wednesday that the charges against Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist who recently lost a Democratic primary race for a U.S. House seat, Andre Martin, Michael Rabbitt and Brian Straw are being dismissed with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled, a spokesperson for his office said.
The four defendants had faced misdemeanor charges of impeding a federal officer after prosecutors last month dismissed a felony conspiracy charge against them. They were part of the “Broadview Six” along with two others — Catherine Sharp and Joselyn Walsh — whose cases were completely dropped by prosecutors earlier this year.
“I am relieved to be exonerated today, but I want to state clearly that fighting these unjust federal charges over the past seven months was never just about me or my co-defendants in this case,” Straw, a shareholder at U.S. law firm Greenberg Traurig and a member of the Village Board for Chicago suburb Oak Park, said in a statement.
Terence Campbell and Valerie Davenport, attorneys for Martin, said in a statement that their client and his codefendants have been “living under the threat of going to prison simply for exercising their First Amendment rights as decent, honorable citizens and seeking to protect their fellow human beings.”
A spokesperson for the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment further. Boutros last month said his office was “constantly evaluating the facts and law in our Operation Midway Blitz cases, as well as new information when it is brought to our attention.”
Prosecutors had accused Abughazaleh and the others of crowding around a government vehicle driven by a federal agent, hindering its progress into the Broadview facility during a September 26 protest. They allegedly banged and pushed on the vehicle, scratched the word “pig” into its body, and broke a rear windshield wiper.
The Trump administration’s crackdown, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, led to thousands of arrests as federal immigration agents clashed with protesters from September until December. Agents shot two people, including one person fatally, and threatened to shoot others, body-cam footage shows.
Agents repeatedly deployed tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets at protesters outside the Broadview immigration holding center during near-daily demonstrations and across many Chicago neighborhoods. An independent commission created by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker last month recommended that local prosecutors investigate federal agents for misconduct.
This month, Illinois State Police said they were investigating the death of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in suburban Chicago.
In another case that fell apart, the Chicago U.S. Attorney’s Office on November 20 dropped charges against Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent after she allegedly tried to ram agents with her car. On October 5, Martinez, a U.S. citizen and Montessori school teacher in Oak Park, was indicted on charges of impeding a federal officer with a deadly weapon.
In January, a Chicago jury acquitted Juan Espinoza Martinez, whom the Justice Department had charged with plotting a hit on a high-profile Border Patrol official.
Reporting by David Thomas. Editing by Emily Schmall and David Gregorio
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