U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver of New Jersey has been charged with assaulting federal officers outside the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration arrested a sitting judge and a sitting mayor. Now, a member of Congress has joined the list.
The charge was announced by Alina Habba, the state’s interim U.S. attorney and a known Trump ally.
Highlights
- Rep. LaMonica McIver was charged with assaulting federal officers during a May 9 ICE facility visit in Newark.
- McIver calls the charges "purely political" and says that ICE created unnecessary conflict during routine congressional oversight.
- Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested as well, but his charges were dropped; he claims his arrest was targeted.
- The Trump administration warns that more arrests of Democratic lawmakers could follow if they interfere with federal operations.
Rep. LaMonica McIver was charged with assaulting federal officers at an ICE facility in Newark
Image credits: Tom Williams/ Getty Images
Habba said McIver pushed and interfered with federal law enforcement during the disturbance on May 9, when she and two other Democratic members of Congress visited the facility for a routine oversight visit.
Video footage from the scene shows McIver moving through a crowd and making physical contact with a federal officer.
“No one is above the law- politicians or otherwise,” Habba said in a DOJ press release.
McIver, however, described the charges as “purely political.”
“They mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight. Our visit should have been peaceful and short. Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation,” she said.
McIver says the charges are ‘purely political’
Image credits: RepLaMonica
“There’s no video that supports me body slamming anyone,” McIver said in a recent CNN interview.
“We were simply there to do our job ... It was a very tense situation. It unfortunately did not have to be like that. They created that confrontation. They created that chaos and then ultimately went to arrest the mayor.”
The charges stem from a visit McIver and two other New Jersey Democrats, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, made to Delaney Hall, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, earlier this month.
The purpose of the visit was routine congressional oversight—a central function of the legislative branch. But the scene quickly spiraled into chaos.
According to a joint statement, the members were met with “contempt, disrespect, and aggression from ICE.”
Outside the facility, protesters gathered, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, also a Democrat, was arrested and charged with trespassing. The charges have since been dropped.
Last month, Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was suspended for allegedly helping a man avoid immigration authorities.
Routine ICE visit by Democrats was allegedly met with ‘contempt, disrespect and aggression’
Image credits: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Baraka said on MSNBC that he was arrested after agreeing to leave, suggesting the arrest was “targeted.”
House Democratic leaders strongly backed McIver, who called the charges “extreme, morally bankrupt and lacking basis in law or fact.”
They said Congress members have the right to inspect federal facilities.
“The proceeding issued by the so-called US Attorney in New Jersey is a blatant attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate Congress and interfere with our ability to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch,” they said in a statement.
“House Democrats will not be intimidated by the Trump administration. Not now. Not ever.”
McIver, 38, was elected in a special election last year after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr.
Before joining Congress, she served as Newark’s City Council president.
The case adds to rising tensions between the Trump administration and Democratic lawmakers over immigration enforcement.
Homeland Security officials have warned that more arrests of Democratic lawmakers could follow if they interfere with federal operations.
Before taking on the role of U.S. attorney in New Jersey, Habba was known primarily as one of Trump’s personal defense attorneys, representing him in multiple lawsuits.
Alina Habba, New Jersey’s interim U.S. attorney, is a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump
Image credits: Andrew Harnik/Getty Image
Republicans are backing Habba as well.
GOP lawmakers have sided with ICE and suggested punishments for the trio, ranging from censure to loss of committee assignments.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before Congress last week and said: “They [the democratic members in question] don’t deserve to be in the House.”
Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, has warned Democratic officials: “They can stand out and scream all they want.”
“But if they trespass, they'll be arrested. If they impede, they will be arrested.”
Homan claimed that elected officials who “cross that line” from protest to disruption would face consequences with no exceptions.
The Democrats are not backing down either.
“Other elected officials shouldn’t fear they’re going to be arrested, or judges arrested because they’re behaving in their conscience,” Baraka told Politico.
“This is authoritarianism. There’s no other way to describe what’s happening in this country right now, but authoritarianism.”