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"The NLG will continue to speak out in support of activists and movements most targeted by state repression."
The National Lawyers Guild expressed pride in its long history of "defending those who challenge fascism" on Thursday as it responded to a demand by a Republican congressman who called on US Department of Justice to investigate the nearly 90-year-old legal advocacy group's alleged ties to "antifa"—which the federal government has acknowledged is not an organization—and accused it of "perpetrating violence."
The NLG said that Rep. Lance Gooden's (R-Texas) letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi was a "clear act of 'jawboning,'" in which "a member of Congress uses their position to chill the First Amendment rights of others and has no legitimate legislative purpose."
Gooden wrote to Bondi, copying FBI Director Kash Patel and Internal Revenue Service CEO Frank Bisignano, last week, saying the NLG and its network of nonprofit social welfare groups "maintain close ties with left-wing extremists and domestic terrorist organizations like Antifa."
The congressman suggested that the group's original goal of "fighting fascist oppression" when it was founded in 1937 was a worthy one—yet took issue with the NLG for "openly aligning itself" with antifa, which former FBI Director Christopher Wray said during the first Trump administration is an "ideology" rather than a "group or an organization."
"Antifa" is a portmanteau of "anti-fascist," and has no organizational structure or leaders. Anti-fascist ideologies are embraced by autonomous groups and individuals, including many who have protested against President Donald Trump's anti-immigration, anti-First Amendment agenda.
"Anti-fascists are those that refuse to stay silent as [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents disappear people off the streets," said the NLG in a recent post on Bluesky. "Anti-fascists are the Stop Cop City protesters, defending their communities from the expansion of police training grounds."
"We all know that this is not the first time the NLG has faced political attacks from the US government."
Gooden noted that Trump recently signed an executive order designating antifa as a "domestic terrorist organization"—a legal designation that doesn't exist in the US—and called on the DOJ to take "stringent action in accordance with President Trump’s terrorist designation," including potential "disbarment of the NLG’s member attorneys, revocation of 501 status and benefits, and bringing criminal charges as the administration deems necessary and appropriate."
The NLG pointed out that it is not the first progressive rights organization to be targeted by the Republican Party.
"Over the past couple of years, several left-leaning organizations have been targeted in similar letters, particularly groups that have been standing up against the genocide in Palestine. Essentially, a member of the US Congress or Senate will issue an incendiary letter against an organization and call for specific government agencies to investigate and, in some cases, issue criminal charges," said the group. "The NLG is taking this development seriously."
The threat against NLG comes as the Trump administration has levied multiple threats against left-wing organizers—both with his executive order and National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7), which mandates a government strategy "to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence so that law enforcement can intervene in criminal conspiracies before they result in violent political acts.”
The guild's local chapters in Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, and Washington, DC have supported local movements as legal advocates since Trump began attempting to deploy federal immigration agents and the National Guard to the cities with the aim of carrying out his deportation campaign and stopping protests against his anti-immigration agenda.
Last week, the group expressed solidarity with the Prairieland Defendants, who held a noise demonstration outside Prairieland ICE detention center in Alvarado, Texas. The Trump administration has indicted the protesters, marking the first use of the president's terrorist designation of "antifa" to bring criminal charges against a group.
"We all know that this is not the first time the NLG has faced political attacks from the US government. Since our founding in 1937, NLG members have been at the frontlines of defending those who challenge fascism and have been the target of state repression. This is a history we are proud of," said the group.
The group's statement came new polling from Reuters/Ipsos showed that 55% of US adults believe the president is wrongly using federal law enforcement to "go after his enemies," including officials like New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey as well as groups he disagrees with.
It also comes amid reporting that the FBI has begun questioning individual protesters about their involvement in anti-ICE demonstrations, according to journalist Ken Klippenstein.
"Under the domestic counterterrorism cases of the Trump administration, no crime needs to be actually committed for authorities to open an investigation," wrote Klippenstein. "In fact, NSPM-7 explicitly calls for a preemptive approach where law enforcement intervene in things 'before they result in violent political acts.' Attorney General Pam Bondi cited NSPM-7 in her own directive, ordering the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to crack down on anti-ICE 'terrorism,' citing protests in front of ICE facilities specifically."
The NLG has provided legal advocacy at protests at ICE facilities in Chicago and Portland, documenting the actions of police and federal agents.
"The NLG will continue to speak out," said the group, "in support of activists and movements most targeted by state repression."
The attack came after a day of protest in which the National Lawyers Guild Chicago says officers were "launching chemical agents and firing munitions at members of the press and people assembled to protest."
Local police have launched a criminal investigation after a CBS News Chicago reporter said she was attacked "absolutely unprovoked" by immigration agents outside a detention facility in Broadview.
Television reporter Asal Rezaei was at the Broadview center Sunday morning, where she'd been going for weeks since protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) "Operation Midway Blitz" began in Chicago earlier this month.
When Rezaei realized there were no protesters at the scene, she began to drive away with the driver's side window down. That's when a masked agent fired a pepper ball at her car from behind the fence, "causing the chemical agents to engulf the inside of her truck," according to CBS News.
"An ICE agent took a direct shot at my car today. Absolutely unprovoked," Rezaei wrote on social media. "My window was open, and chemicals went all over my face. Been puking for two hours."
Rezaei explained that there was "not one protester in sight" and that she was "simply driving by to check the scene out like I have been for weeks, about 50 feet from the entrance."
She posted photos of her car's windshield, which was left covered in specks of white powder.
In a police report filed Sunday, Rezaei said: "At this moment, it's not really clear why that officer took a shot at me. My car has been here several times, although I did not identify myself verbally as a member of the press. There were no protests going on. There was actually nobody there except one other person that was a member of a fire department that was there checking in on the buildings around this area."
The Broadview Police Department has announced that it is opening an investigation into the attack. Police Chief Thomas Mills said in a statement that chemical agents were “fired from the direction of the [ICE] detention facility" toward Rezaei's vehicle. Mills said that the police department "expects the full cooperation by the US Department of Homeland Security into our criminal investigation."
A spokesperson for DHS has denied that Rezaei was attacked, saying: "Absolutely not. No member of the media at CBS or any other outlet was ‘attacked.’ For their safety, we remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots."
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson warned on Friday that ICE officials have been “making war” in her community by “deploying chemical arms, such as tear gas, pepper spray, etc. against American citizens, our residents, and our first responders."
Mills himself said he had been verbally attacked by ICE agents during a protest. He said that later, while attempting to gather information about an apparent hit-and-run by an ICE agent on a pedestrian, officers were hit with pepper spray, which altered their vision so badly that they were required to leave the scene.
Video: CBS News
The agency's tactics only grew more brutal over the weekend, which local police say was a direct act of retaliation from the Department of Homeland Security. On Saturday morning, Broadview police said they received a message from ICE agents that it would be "a shit show in Broadview today."
Agents fired tear gas and other chemical irritants at a crowd of about 75 protesters gathered outside the facility on Saturday night. According to the Chicago Tribune, federal officials took 11 people into custody, four of whom now face federal charges.
One of the people arrested and later released was another journalist, Steve Held, the co-founder of the investigative outlet Unraveled Press. Held was released from custody just hours before ICE reportedly fired at Rezaei. Another reporter from the Chicago Sun-Times was also struck by rubber bullets and tear-gassed.
"The pattern of law enforcement violence and targeted attacks persisted yesterday, with agents launching chemical agents and firing munitions at members of the press and people assembled to protest," said the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) of Chicago. "Agents used multiple chemical agents, launched kinetic grenades, and shot rubber bullets, mace, and pepper balls against those assembled. One legal observer was shot directly in the face with a projectile. Agents also menaced people by pointing firearms at them, including handguns and a rifle."
The NLG said federal agents' actions on Saturday "were notably distinct from prior days in that officers went after people who were simply gathered to support the active protesters."
Officers "forcibly removed people sheltering from tear gas in vehicles," "fired weapons at specific protesters in direct response to their First Amendment-protected statements and snatched protesters signs," the group said. They also "confiscated tents used for shade, as well as food, water and first aid supplies, and people's bike helmets and other personal property, putting them in a dumpster in the restricted area."
As people tried to leave the protest, NLG says "agents blocked them and demanded to illegally search people's bodies and vehicles."
“Last night, our Legal Observers witnessed militarized federal agents deploy chemical weapons and fire projectiles at a crowd of people exercising their First Amendment rights," said Amanda Yarusso, a volunteer attorney with NLG Chicago. "The violence was an indiscriminate, unprovoked, and illegal use of force. These unlawful actions by federal agents demonstrate this administration’s complete disregard of constitutional standards.
"What ICE just did to me was a violent abuse of power—and it’s still nothing compared to what they’re doing to immigrant communities," said the Illinois congressional candidate.
Protests at a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Chicago continued on Friday, with ICE and Border Patrol agents tear-gassing, pepper-spraying, and detaining demonstrators—and even throwing congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh to the ground.
"This is what it looks like when ICE violates our First Amendment rights," Abughazaleh wrote on social media alongside two videos of the incident at the facility in Broadview, Illinois—which is key to ICE's deadly "Operation Midway Blitz," launched earlier this month as part of US President Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda.
"What ICE just did to me was a violent abuse of power—and it's still nothing compared to what they're doing to immigrant communities. I've been fighting the right as a journalist and now I'm running for Congress to do the same in DC," said Abughazaleh, a former producer at Media Matters for America and one of several Democrats in the 2026 race to represent Illinois' 9th Congressional District.
"They weren’t showing their faces and almost none had visible badge numbers. There will likely never be any real accountability for the agent who grabbed me and threw me to the ground but we can have accountability for Trump and Tom Homan," she added, referring to the president's border czar. "And that’s why I’m running for office."
In a phone interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, the 26-year-old said ICE agents threw her to the ground twice:
“I wasn’t surprised, and that’s part of why we’re here,” Abughazaleh said. “Everyone here is at least a little bit scared, but mostly I’m angry and we need to get the facility shut down.”
ICE agents used tear gas and shot pepper balls, she said—some of which hit her legs—around 6:00 am, while shouting “your First Amendment rights are on the sidewalk.”
She anticipates a “nasty” bruise on her right side.
“It’s more important than ever to stand with our neighbors, if not just for their basic human dignity,” Abughazaleh said. “I’m not here as a candidate, I’m here as an individual.”
The newspaper noted that "ICE did not respond immediately to specific questions about Abughazaleh, the use of nonlethal chemical agents, and the status of the protesters allegedly arrested during the clash."
The US Department of Homeland Security later shared Fox 32's video of an agent shoving Abughazaleh to the ground on social media and said: "Individuals and groups impeding ICE operations are siding with vicious cartels, human traffickers, and violent criminals. You will not stop ICE and DHS law enforcement from enforcing our immigration laws."
The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago, which had legal observers at the protest, said that it "was aware of three arrests as of 1:00 pm, but the situation was changing rapidly. Local police were observed nearby and failed to protect civilians from the federal agents’ attacks, but did not appear to participate in the violent acts or any arrests directly."
The federal agents used tear gas and pepper balls, and "repeatedly and aggressively grabbed and dragged seated protesters, throwing several of them into the street," the guild said. The legal observers also saw "an agent unholstering his handgun, and a van driven by agents almost running over a protester who had fallen in its path."
Abughazaleh used her experience to create a contrast between herself and some other candidates also hoping to replace Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, an 81-year-old who announced in May that she would not seek reelection.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, another candidate in Democrats' crowded primary race for the 9th District, also joined the protest in Broadview on Friday. He told Block Club Chicago that “I’ve seen shocking violence.”
“I mean, throwing people to the ground, pepper balls, tear gas... It seems gratuitous, right? They’re trying to intimidate. They’ve got guys up there on the roof with cameras," he added. “They’re trying to remind people that this is an administration that names and then targets its political enemies for physical and economic violence.”
Chicago Ald. Andre Vasquez (D-40) and Illinois Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton—a Democrat running to replace retiring US Sen. Dick Durbin—were also at the ICE facility on Friday.
Asked about agents' violence toward protesters, Stratton told reporters that "people are here to peacefully protest. Look what we've been seeing over the last several weeks right here in Chicago: people being snatched off the streets, stuffed into unmarked vans, and with no due process."
"We are seeing the Constitution being stomped upon, and just this week, again, attacks on First Amendment rights—and all of us need to be speaking with moral clarity and saying this is not right," she added. "So I'm here to stand with Illinoisans who are protesting peacefully and make sure that I let them know that I stand with them."
Organizers intend to continue demonstrating as long as the ICE operation continues in Chicago and its suburbs. In a statement ahead of Friday's action, protester Britt Hodgdon stressed that “ICE doesn’t make me or my community safer.”
“If exercising my right to free speech gets me tear-gassed, then I’m not safe," Hodgdon continued. "If my neighbors go missing into a deportation system where their families can’t find out where they’ve been taken, then my neighborhood is not safe. If there are ICE agents all over my city and they’re willing to shoot and kill someone who tries to get away from them—as they did in murdering Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez—then none of us are safe.”
In a statement Friday afternoon Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates similarly said that "under Donald Trump, federal agents make us less safe no matter what letters they have on their uniform."
"If the federal government wanted to help our city, it would restore Medicaid, rebuild the Department of Education, and stop threatening our schools, not send its agents to arrest workers, separate families, and harass area residents," she added. "How do you teach a civics class on the US Constitution when students are watching the president tear it apart in real time?"
This article has been updated with comment from the Chicago Teachers Union, the city's arm of the National Lawyers Guild, and the US Department of Homeland Security.