A University of Chicago assistant professor who was one of five people arrested during a protest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding facility in Broadview last week faces felony charges for allegedly spitting on an Illinois State Police trooper, according to court records.
Eman Abdelhadi, 36, was arrested near the facility on Oct. 3 as protesting continued outside the building for the fourth straight week, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.
Abdelhadi faces two counts of aggravated battery to a government employee, a Class 3 felony, and two misdemeanor counts of resisting/obstructing peace, Cook County court records show.
In court documents, prosecutors claim that Abdelhadi “knowingly and intentionally” spat at the trooper at a protest line manned with state personnel. She faces misdemeanors for allegedly refusing an order to disperse and for pulling her arm away from a state trooper to prevent being handcuffed.
Abdelhadi declined to comment when reached by phone. It was unclear if she had an attorney.
According to the University of Chicago’s website, Abdelhadi is an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development. A resume attached to Abdelhadi’s U. of C. profile shows that she has worked at the university since 2019.
Last week, state troopers started monitoring protests at the west suburban ICE facility, which have grown heated over the past month, as part of a “unified command” the agency has temporarily formed alongside the sheriff’s office to address safety concerns outside the building.
Protesters began gathering near 25th Avenue and Harvard Street about 6 a.m., carrying signs that read “And then they came for me” and “Immigrants make America great.”
They booed Broadview public works trucks as they pulled up and blocked a sidewalk and cheered or shouted expletives at drivers of passing cars who beeped in support or yelled “America first!” They screamed “shame!” as masked agents drove cars and vans up and down Harvard, some apparently dropping off recent arrestees.
At 7:52 a.m., Abdelhadi posted a picture amid protests of state troopers carrying wooden batons.
By 9:15 a.m., hundreds of people had joined the crowd as state troopers tried to keep people on the sidewalk.
Abdelhadi was released from custody Saturday after an initial court appearance, the sheriff’s office confirmed. As a condition of her release, Abdelhadi was ordered to have no unlawful contact with the Broadview detention facility.
Two days later, in a post to Bluesky Monday night, Abdelhadi wrote, “Thank you so much everyone for the messages of love and support. I feel fortified by your presence in my life and in the world. I keep thinking about all our neighbors and siblings — hundreds in Chicago alone — who’ve been detained into the unknown of horrendous facilities. We owe them resistance.”
Abdelhadi, who is Palestinian American, has been a vocal advocate for Palestine amid the Israel-Hamas war, speaking with the Tribune both when student encampments went up at U. Of C. last year and earlier this May as student protests against the conflict continued.
Abdelhadi is due back in court Nov. 21.
On Monday — as the Trump administration follows through with plans to deploy National Guard troops in Illinois in what the White House claims is an effort to protect federal immigration personnel and facilities — Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson issued an executive order restricting protests outside the facility to the hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Chicago Tribune’s Caroline Kubzansky, Madeline Buckley and Jake Sheridan contributed.