(RNS) — Prosecutors have dropped charges against a group of religious leaders who were arrested during a faith-led protest outside of a Department of Homeland Security facility last fall, offering a reprieve even as the clergy noted that others are still facing a legal battle.
On Monday (Feb. 9), the state attorney’s office of Cook County, Illinois, announced it was dropping charges against 19 of the 21 people who were arrested at a demonstration in Broadview, Illinois, in November, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. At least seven of those arrested during the protest were faith leaders who had gathered at the site to condemn the actions of DHS agents and the agency’s refusal to allow clergy to offer Communion and pastoral care to immigrant detainees inside.
The Rev. Michael Woolf, an American Baptist minister who pastors Lake Street Church of Evanston, Illinois, was among those who had their charges dropped. In a text exchange with Religion News Service, Woolf said the state-level charges brought against him and others were “egregious.” He also made reference to his dramatic arrest, which he told RNS left him with bruises all over his body.
“There is nothing like seeing the law enforcement officers who abused you look confused as the states attorney dismisses your charges,” Woolf wrote. “They never should have been brought in the first place.”
Woolf said that while he welcomed the news, he wanted to keep the focus on “the injustice done to migrants in that facility” and on what he called “evil tactics” used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“What I suffered was nothing compared to affected communities,” he wrote.
Woolf noted two people are still facing charges related to their involvement in the protest, one of whom is an organizer of faith communities.
“Charges remain for two of my colleagues and that is reprehensible,” he said. “I call on the states attorney to drop all charges for protesters and pray for a just outcome.”
At least one other faith leader — the Rev. Hannah Kardon, a United Methodist minister — is also still facing state-level charges after she was arrested in a similar protest at the same location just weeks before the faith-led demonstration. Footage from the day shows Kardon praying shortly before being thrown to the ground by Illinois State Police and taken away.
“I am so glad that the State’s Attorney has dropped the obviously egregious charges against these 19 people — but there are dozens more people in the exact same situation who they continue to prosecute for no reason, causing damage to their lives and putting them at risk,” she wrote in a text message to RNS on Monday.
“Every act of peaceful protest at Broadview, where people were being taken from their communities and detained without food, water, hygiene, safety, or access to law, faith, and family, was a sacred act of care for our neighbors,” Kardon continued.
She called the ongoing prosecutions “a betrayal of our neighbors, a betrayal of our values, and in direct contradiction to what many of the politicians in charge say they support.” She also recalled her own arrest: A video clip from the incident shows an Illinois State Police officer repeatedly slamming a baton into a group of demonstrators that included Kardon, which she said left her with bruises on her leg.
“I was praying for justice when I was hit with a stick and arrested by the Illinois State Police,” she said. “I continue to pray for it every day, and will until every charge is dropped, every kidnapped neighbor freed, and every demonic detention center closed.”
Both Woolf’s and Kardon’s arrests happened amid a wave of protests outside the Broadview DHS facility last fall that included multiple incidents where federal agents — and, activists allege, state police — responded violently to demonstrators. On several occasions, that included clergy: Multiple faith leaders said they were exposed to tear gas and pepper balls fired by DHS agents while protesting outside the facility, with dramatic footage emerging of agents appearing to shoot the Rev. David Black, a Presbyterian minister, in the head with pepper balls.
DHS has openly mocked the religious protesters. A spokesperson referred to Black as “pastor” in air-quotes, and the agency’s social media feed posted a statement about the faith-led protest where Woolf was arrested that referred to demonstrators as “imbecilic morons” who needed to “get a job.”
Meanwhile, six other demonstrators are facing federal charges for their role in protests at the Broadview facility. Known as the “Broadview Six,” the demonstrators include Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh as well as Brian Straw, an attorney and trustee of the Village of Oak Park. Straw, a United Methodist, has been supported by local clergy: Kardon and several other Methodist ministers attended his arraignment in November, with the Rev. Lindsey Long Joyce explaining, “He’s one of ours.”
