The spectacular collapse of a case against ICE protesters: ‘It’s not justice, but it is a win’

Though the federal government’s prosecution fell apart, the Broadview Six of Illinois say their lives have been upended Michael Rabbitt was 4,000 miles (6,400km) away from home last October, celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary in Portugal, when a pair of messages from the FBI brought news that would upend his life. He was under federal indictment, and was ordered to surrender by the next day. The month before, Rabbitt, 62, had been protesting at an ICE detention facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, during a period of tense daily demonstrations. Now, the federal government was accusing him and five others of felony conspiracy, saying they had illegally blocked an ICE vehicle. Rabbitt and his five co-defendants, who became known as the “Broadview Six”, were suddenly the center of national attention. It was the highest-profile prosecution to emerge from Operation Midway Blitz, the Trump administration’s sweeping deportation campaign across Chicago. Yet just as Rabbitt and his co-defendants were headed for trial in late May, the case collapsed amid stunning allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, including grand jury manipulation. Later, the US attorney Andrew Bou