University of Chicago comparative human development professor Eman Abdelhadi was arrested by the Illinois State Police (ISP) on October 3 during a protest outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Broadview, Illinois, the Maroon confirmed.
According to the Associated Press, protestors raised concerns about escalating ICE enforcement and inhumane conditions including overcrowding and lack of access to food, water, and medical care, while also contesting the use of chemical agents against demonstrators.
Abdelhadi has been charged with aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting and obstruction of peace, according to an ISP public information officer, though the events leading up to her arrest are currently unknown.
Abdelhadi could not immediately be reached for comment.
Posts on X and Bluesky show she was present at the demonstration. One post on X that has since been deleted stated she was placed in a Cook County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) van following her arrest and “hasn’t been read her rights.†Bluesky accounts reported heavy police presence, barricades, and protestors being tackled or pushed back. ICE, meanwhile, has characterized demonstrators at the Broadview facility as activists defending convicted criminals.
CCSO directed the Maroon to other law enforcement agencies present at the protest when asked for information about Abdelhadi’s arrest.
Law enforcement presence at Broadview was significant, with ISP, CCSO, and federal agents responding as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino visited the site.
The Broadview ICE facility has been the focus of protests against deportation practices, with recurring protests led by groups such as Organized Communities Against Deportations, Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago, and RAICES.
In recent weeks, demonstrations there have intensified amid allegations of excessive force by federal agents, including the use of tear gas and pepper balls against protestors and journalists, according to reports from Block Club Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that chemical agents were not used at the Friday demonstration.
These accounts have not been independently verified.
Cook County officials have confirmed Abdelhadi was discharged from custody on October 4. Her next court date is scheduled for this week.
The University of Chicago has not yet responded to requests for comment.
This is a developing story.
Nathaniel Rodwell-Simon contributed reporting.
GarbageMan / Oct 15, 2025 at 3:15 pm
Are “UChicago” professors required by their contracts to obey the law? Can the university fire this professor now or do they have to wait to see if she is convicted? Can she teach as a convicted professor?
JJ / Oct 7, 2025 at 11:06 am
It is the pathology of the modern faculty activist: a spoiled bourgeois radical insulated by tenure, mistaking melodrama for moral clarity. They declaim against privilege while enjoying every privilege the academy affords, moralizing between sabbaticals and catered colloquia. Their “resistance†costs nothing—performed safely within the velvet rope of institutional protection.
I eagerly await the forthcoming op-ed proclaiming their arrest as a harbinger of fascism (civil order is an affront to their moral grandeur).
Barbara Piper / Oct 8, 2025 at 9:46 am
“a spoiled bourgeois radical insulated by tenure,….”
An assistant prof does not have tenure…..
pedantry / Oct 8, 2025 at 12:21 pm
Lookit! I, too, can be a pedant:
tenure
noun
ten·​ure ˈten-yər also -ˌyu̇r
Synonyms of tenure
1
: the act, right, manner, or term of holding something (such as a landed property, a position, or an office)
Barbara Piper / Oct 9, 2025 at 6:01 am
Cute but irrelevant. “JJ” suggested that Prof. Abdelhadi was “insulated by tenure,” but academic tenure is a form of job security that assistant professors such as Prof. Abdelhadi do not have.
You’re welcome to call that pedantry if you wish, but it’s a fundamental issue in academic freedom (which us only guaranteed by tenure), and is anything but trivial to faculty.
Pedantic pedant / Oct 9, 2025 at 10:30 pm
You left out:
especially : a status granted after a trial period to a teacher thats gives protection from summary dismissal
¡Ni una más deportación! FREE THEM ALL L! / Oct 7, 2025 at 2:05 am
Dear student journalists, in the last month in your city, ICE/CBP has murdered a single father in broad daylight; shot a rapid response volunteer with live rounds; ***spouted nonstop lies trying to blame their victims***; rappelled onto the roof of a South Shore apartment building in the middle of the night and zip-tied children; fist-bumped each other after ambushing a family in Millennium Park and separating a sobbing eight-year-old from her dad; preyed upon people going to domestic violence court, hospitals, and daycare centers; used our pain as fuel for giddy white nationalist propaganda on social media; and lobbed tear gas canisters into residential neighborhoods to punish residents for daring to exercise their 1st amendment rights.
Do y’all really think it’s good journalism not to mention any of the above context, yet go out of your way to include the fascists’ side of the story — even as they’re actively occupying your city and terrorizing people here on an hourly basis?
Just as I get overwhelmed by how uncritical, creepy, depressing, and Alivisatos-like I find this piece of “journalism” to be, I remember that there are people as smart, caring, and brave as Eman and I feel slightly less f***ed in this nightmarish new era. EMAN, YOUR CITY <3s YOU!
Dr. Nancy Henning Weres / Oct 8, 2025 at 1:51 pm
What is your real name? Are you a student or Alumni? The Chicago Maroon is wise not to report lies of extreme leftists who are trying to divide and destroy America. Are you pals with William Ayres the Hyde Park Marxist who supports violent revolution?
A student, you McCarthyite creep / Oct 9, 2025 at 2:04 pm
Everyone looking at this exchange now, go read the articles in South Side Weekly and the TRiiBE about what DHS did at 7500 S Shore Dr on Sept 30. Nancy Weres is proud to publicly cast her lot with the fascist pigs who zip-tied kids there; said “f*** them kids” when confronted about it by neighbors,;zip-tied and re-traumatized 67 year-old Black citizen and veteran Rod Johnson; and emptied out the entire apartment building with multiple people still missing. Nancy is here to shout from the rooftops: that unprecedented military-style assault on our neighbors in a 130-unit apartment building is irrelevant to her – the real outrage is people daring to speak out against such atrocities.
Let’s also be clear: DHS has ZERO credibility, yet similar to the Maroon, Nancy has no interest in questioning their narrative. Nancy wants to remind everyone that she’s a Dr., but sadly for American society, honorifics do not guarantee having a modicum of critical thinking skills.
Bob Michaelson / Oct 9, 2025 at 5:28 pm
Nancy – I see that you dropped out of the College, so though you are technically considered an alumna I don’t think you should presume to consider yourself one.
I hope you didn’t learn to rant about “extreme leftists” (you sound like Donald!) at the University of Chicago.
Can you identify anything incorrect in the message that you so fiercely rage at? I didn’t think so!