In a moment that encapsulates the current collision of academia, activism, and law enforcement, a University of Chicago professor has been charged with felonies for her alleged role in a violent anti-ICE protest that unfolded in Broadview, Illinois. The arrest of Eman Abdelhadi, an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Human Development, marks a dramatic turn in an already volatile standoff between federal immigration enforcement and left-wing protest movements.
Abdelhadi now faces two counts of aggravated battery against a government employee — a Class 3 felony — along with two misdemeanor charges for resisting and obstructing police, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. She was released Saturday, just a day after the Friday confrontation in which demonstrators reportedly clashed with Illinois state police outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
The professor, already known for her inflammatory rhetoric, wasted no time turning her arrest into a platform. Posting on X, she decried the officers’ presence as taxpayer-funded terror and accused them of carrying out “abductions” in the name of Trump’s immigration agenda. Clad in a “FREE PALESTINE” shirt, she was filmed confronting officers at close range, shouting directly into their faces — an image now circulating widely across social media.
Here’s a picture of Illinois state tax dollars going to enforcing Trump’s agenda of terrorizing our community with abductions. Thanks @GovPritzker! pic.twitter.com/0wfNCBAtb8
— Eman Abdelhadi (@emanabdelhadi) October 3, 2025
The timing is far from coincidental. Abdelhadi had just appeared on the podcast Movement Memos, where she explicitly framed the ICE presence as an occupying force and declared neutrality dead: “You’re either resisting or you’re complicit,” she said. It’s a stark, absolutist worldview — one that erases nuance and leaves no space for institutional dialogue or lawful protest.
But her arrest and charged behavior raise larger questions about the boundaries of protest, especially when it crosses into the realm of alleged violence. Abdelhadi, who has previously called the University of Chicago “evil” and a “colonial landlord,” has made headlines for her radical statements before — including a celebratory social media post on October 7 that featured a Palestinian flag on the same day as the Hamas attacks on Israel.
This latest incident also comes amid heightened federal and state tensions over immigration enforcement. The Trump administration, following a surge in anti-ICE assaults, recently deployed 200 Texas National Guard soldiers to Illinois. The move has sparked legal and political backlash, including a lawsuit by Illinois attempting to block the deployment — a challenge that was rejected Monday by a federal judge. Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson doubled down, signing an executive order establishing “ICE-free zones” throughout the city.
Eman Abdelhadi: “F*** the University of Chicago… but it’s my best shot at power.”
At Socialism 2025, @UChicago professor Eman Abdelhadi called her employer “evil colonial landlord.”
Use it. Organize it. Seize its structural leverage.
“We don’t have power… but I work at one… pic.twitter.com/Mes06SYMEp
— Stu Smith (@thestustustudio) July 6, 2025
But the violence is no longer hypothetical. On Saturday, a convoy reportedly boxed in Border Patrol agents in the Chicago area. One individual — armed with a semi-automatic weapon — was shot by agents after the threat was confirmed. The stakes, already high, are now combustible.
As the University of Chicago remains silent on Abdelhadi’s status, the broader implications ripple far beyond campus. The question isn’t just about a single professor’s conduct. It’s about what happens when ideological activism collides with law enforcement on the streets of a city already caught in the political crosshairs of a federal showdown.
