Sheri Mecklenburg, the prosecutor tasked with overseeing the Trump administration’s failed prosecutions of six protesters opposing ICE, resigned this week with a blistering accusation: Chicago U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros interfered in the case and blamed her when it collapsed.

In a three page letter obtained by the Chicago Tribune and other news organizations, Mecklenburg said she was “retiring under protest.” She alleged that Boutros, who leads the Northern District of Illinois, “personally directed” prosecutors to pursue felony charges in the Broadview Six case.

The case involved six protesters who were prosecuted for demonstrating outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Illinois. Federal prosecutors dropped every charge earlier this year after admitting that errors had been made in the case.

Mecklenburg wrote that Boutros pursued felony charges “over my objection that the case was better suited to misdemeanor charges.” Her account directly challenged how responsibility for the failed prosecution was being assigned inside the office.

The dispute adds to the controversy surrounding Boutros, a Trump appointee whose handling of the Broadview case attracted criticism. The case began with the September 2025 arrests of six protesters, including Kat Abughazaleh, who was then a congressional candidate.

Prosecutors were accused of improperly redacting grand jury transcripts and dismissing jurors who disagreed with the government’s case. Those issues became part of the scrutiny surrounding the prosecution and its eventual unraveling.

The federal judge overseeing the case sharply rebuked Boutros in court. “I do believe deeply in the presumption of regularity and that most government attorneys are doing the best they can to do the right thing. That trust has been broken.”

Mecklenburg’s letter was dated Thursday and first reported Friday. Titled “my forced retirement,” it alleged that Boutros was attempting to place responsibility for the failed Broadview Six prosecution on her.

“You sent an office-wide email laying responsibility at my feet for a felony prosecution that you personally directed over my objection that the case was better suited to misdemeanor charges,” Mecklenburg wrote. “You then publicly announced an investigation of my conduct spanning twenty years.”

Her retirement first became public through a Thursday court filing from her attorneys. They said that “to the extent that Ms. Mecklenburg made mistakes [in the case]…she owns them,” including interactions with two grand jurors outside the grand jury room.

Mecklenburg’s attorneys said those conversations were not relevant to the case and that she immediately reported them to her superiors. Their filing also sought to establish when her involvement with the prosecution ended.

Mecklenburg withdrew from the case in February when she left her Chicago position for a post in Washington, D.C. “From that point forward,” the filing states, “she was no longer assigned to this matter, received no electronic notifications, and was neither notified nor otherwise involved in the later redaction of any grand jury transcripts or hearings the Court held after her departure.”

The filing arrived less than a week before a scheduled hearing on multiple motions brought by the former defendants. Those motions include requests to sanction prosecutors and hold them in criminal contempt.

Mecklenburg also filed a motion seeking to intervene in the case so she could defend herself against allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. According to the filing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office prohibited that move under threat of termination.

In her letter to Boutros, Mecklenburg said her departure was not voluntary and that she was leaving to preserve healthcare benefits she would lose if fired. She said she had been on leave since May without a written explanation or “meaningful opportunity to respond before being publicly condemned by you.”

“You have forced me to choose between remaining silent while my professional reputation is destroyed and prematurely surrendering my cherished career,” Mecklenburg wrote. “I choose the latter.”

A Justice Department spokesperson rejected Mecklenburg’s claim that she was pushed to pursue felony charges after recommending misdemeanors. The spokesperson told MS NOW that Mecklenburg had identified the felony as “the strongest charge” in writing.

Mecklenburg’s attorney declined to comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago did not immediately respond Friday to requests for comment.