Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was charged with assaulting, resisting, and impeding law enforcement officers during a riot at Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, New Jersey.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba revealed that McIver was being charged. Noem noted that “no one is above the law.”
The announcements of the charges against McIver come after Reps. McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D) showed up at Delaney Hall to “conduct federal oversight” of the facility and allegedly stormed and trespassed. Baraka ended up being arrested for alleged criminal trespass.
“After a thorough review of the video footage of Delaney Hall and a full investigation from HSI, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey had made the determination to charge Congresswoman LaMonica McIver for assaulting, resisting, and impeding law enforcement officers,” Noem wrote in a post on X. “No one is above the law. If any person, regardless of political party, influence or status, assaults a law enforcement officer as we witnessed Congresswoman McIver do, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
“We thank our brave ICE law enforcement officers for their service to this great nation,” Noem added.
Habba also announced in a press release posted to X, that her office had “agreed” to dismiss Baraka’s misdemeanor charge of trespass and added that she had invited him to tour Delaney Hall.
“After extensive consideration, we have agreed to dismiss Mayor Baraka’s misdemeanor charge of trespass for the sake of moving forward,” Habba said. “In the spirit of public interest, I have invited the mayor to tour Delaney Hall. The government has nothing to hide at this facility, and I will personally accompany the mayor so he can see that firsthand.”
“The citizens of New Jersey deserve unified leadership so we can get to work to keep our state safe,” Habba added. “The dismissal against the mayor is not the end of this matter. Congressional oversight is an important constitutional function and one that I fully support. However, that is not at issue in this case.”
Habba explained that McIver had “assaulted, impeded, and interfered with law enforcement in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 111(a)(1),” adding that her “conduct cannot be overlooked.”
In response to the charges against her, McIver issued a statement describing the charges as “purely political” and a mischaracterization and distortion of her actions.
“Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district,” McIver said. “We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short. Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor Baraka. The charges against me are purely political—they mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight.”
Watson Coleman have previously claimed during an interview on CNN that “nothing happened” and that the Democrat lawmakers were “pushed and shoved.” In response to Watson Coleman’s claim, DHS shared a video in a post on X which showed the Democrat lawmakers pushing and shoving law enforcement officials.
McIver has also claimed, “there’s no video” supporting the claims that she body slammed anyone.
When CNN host Dana Bash noted that DHS was claiming McIver had body slammed an ICE officer, Bash asked her, “is that what we’re looking at?”
“Absolutely no,” McIver answered. “I mean, I honestly do not know how to body slam anyone. There’s no video that supports me body slamming anyone. We, as Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman said we were simply there to do our job. There for an oversight visit.”
DHS has previously released mugshots and criminal records of some of the detainees being held at Delaney Hall Detention Center and explained that “as a bus of detainees was entering the security gate,” a group of protestors, which included “two members of US Congress, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”
“Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility.”
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