DOJ says it has charged N.J. congresswoman with assaulting law enforcement at ICE facility

The Justice Department said it filed charges Monday against Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., alleging she assaulted law enforcement this month at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark.

The acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, made the announcement on X, where she accused McIver of “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement.”

McIver called the charges “purely political” in a statement and said she looks forward “to the truth being laid out clearly in court.”

“Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district. 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,” she said.

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Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche backed Habba’s statement, writing on X that “assaults on federal law enforcement will not be tolerated.”

Habba, in a separate statement Monday, said her office had dropped trespassing charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested on May 9, the day McIver and two other House Democrats were at the facility.

“After extensive consideration, we have agreed to dismiss Mayor Baraka’s misdemeanor charge of trespass for the sake of moving forward,” Habba said in a statement, while adding that the dismissal of the charges against Baraka, a candidate for New Jersey governor, is not the end of the matter.

The confrontation this month ensued amid a chaotic scene during a protest outside the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark. McIver was one of three Democratic members of the New Jersey congressional delegation who have repeatedly stated they were there to inspect the facility as lawmakers conducting federal oversight.

Rep. Rob Menendez, at a news conference after Baraka’s arrest, accused ICE agents of putting “their hands” on McIver and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman.

“We were assaulted by multiple ICE agents,” McIver told reporters at the time.

Trump administration officials have accused the lawmakers of “storming into” the facility.

“Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said on May 9.

McIver’s lawyer, Paul Fishman, called the decision to charge the congresswoman “spectacularly inappropriate.”

“She went to Delaney Hall to do her job. As a member of Congress, she has the right and responsibility to see how ICE is treating detainees. Rather than facilitating that inspection, ICE agents chose to escalate what should have been a peaceful situation into chaos. This prosecution is an attempt to shift the blame for ICE’s behavior to Congresswoman McIver,” Fishman said in a statement.

The assault charge facing McIver was frequently used by federal prosecutors in cases against rioters who assaulted law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. President Donald Trump this year pardoned about 1,500 defendants from the attack on the Capitol, including some convicted of assaulting police.

House Democratic leaders issued a joint statement condemning the charges, calling them “morally bankrupt” and lacking “any basis in law or in fact.”

“By visiting the detention center in Newark, Rep. McIver and two other Members of Congress were upholding their oath of office. They didn’t assault anyone, but were themselves aggressively mistreated by illegally masked individuals,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Reps. Katherine Clark, Pete Aguilar, Ted Lieu and Joe Negeuse.

“The proceeding initiated by the so-called U.S. 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,” adding that House Democrats will “respond vigorously in the days to come at a time, place and manner of our choosing.”