Democratic Rep. McIver charged with assault after skirmish at ICE
center, New Jersey prosecutor says
[May 20, 2025]
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and
MIKE CATALINI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver is being charged with
assault after a skirmish with federal officers outside an immigration
detention center, said New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, who also
announced Monday that she was dropping a trespassing case against the
Newark mayor whose arrest led to the disturbance.
Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba wrote on social media that McIver is
facing a charge of assaulting, impeding or interfering with law
enforcement, but court papers providing details were not immediately
released or publicly available online.
The prosecution of McIver is a rare federal criminal case against a
sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or
corruption. The case instantly taps into a much broader and more
consequential power struggle between a Trump administration engaged in a
sweeping overhaul of immigration policy and a Democratic party
scrambling for ways to respond.
Within minutes of Habba’s announcement, McIver’s Democratic colleagues
cast the prosecution as an infringement on lawmakers’ official duties to
serve their constituents and an effort to silence their opposition to an
immigration policy that helped propel the president back into power but
now has emerged as divisive fault line in American political discourse.
At the same time, Habba announced that her office agreed to dismiss a
misdemeanor charge against Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was
arrested after he attempted to join McIver and two other members of New
Jersey’s congressional delegation inspecting the facility in their
oversight capacity. Habba said the decision was reached “for the sake of
moving forward" and said she has invited the mayor to tour the Delaney
Hall detention center and will join him herself.
“The citizens of New Jersey deserve unified leadership so we can get to
work to keep our state safe,” Habba said in a statement.
McIver has denied any wrongdoing and has accused federal agents of
escalating the situation by arresting the mayor. She denounced the
charge as “purely political” and said prosecutors are distorting her
actions in an effort to deter legislative oversight.
“This administration will never stop me from working for the people in
our district and standing up for what is right,” she said in a
statement. "I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received
and I look forward to the truth being laid out clearly in court.”
A nearly two-minute clip released by the Homeland Security Department
shows McIver on the facility side of a chain-link fence just before the
arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence. She and uniformed
officials go through the gate and she joins others shouting “surround
the mayor.” The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people
and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push
into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform
emblazoned with the word “Police” on it.
It isn’t clear from bodycam video whether that contact was intentional,
incidental or a result of jostling in the chaotic scene.
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Interim US Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, left, arrives to the
courthouse in Newark, N.J., Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth
Wenig)
In a post on X, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said McIver
was being charged after a “thorough review of the video footage” and
investigation by Homeland Security Investigations.
“Assaults on federal law enforcement will not be tolerated,” Deputy
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a post on X. “This
Administration will always protect those who work tirelessly to keep
America safe.”
McIver's attorney called the decision to charge her “spectacularly
inappropriate,” saying she went to Delaney Hall “to do her job” and
she has the responsibility as a member of Congress to oversee U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement's treatment of detainees. As of
Monday night, neither McIver nor her attorneys had gotten charging
documents from prosecutors, according to an emailed statement from a
spokesperson for her attorney.
“Rather than facilitating that inspection, ICE agents chose to
escalate what should have been a peaceful situation into chaos,”
Paul Fishman, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said in a
statement. “This prosecution is an attempt to shift the blame for
ICE’s behavior to Congresswoman McIver. In the courtroom, facts —
not headlines — will matter.”
Baraka, who is seeking the Democratic nomination in this year’s
governor’s race, had repeatedly denied trespassing and said he had
been invited inside the gate at one point before the arrest.
He said in an emailed statement Monday that he was glad the case
against him was dismissed. He said he will “continue to advocate for
the humane treatment of detainees" and "continue to press the
facility to ensure that it is compliant with City of Newark codes
and regulations."
Baraka called McIver a “daughter of Newark” and said he stood with
her.
“I fully expect her to be vindicated,” he said.
McIver, 38, first came to Congress in September in a special
election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in
the 10th District. She was then elected to a full term in November.
A Newark native, she served as the president of the Newark City
Council from 2022 to 2024 and worked in the city’s public schools
before that.
House Democratic leaders decried the criminal case against their
colleague in a lengthy statement in which they called the charge
“extreme, morally bankrupt” and lacking “any basis in law or fact.”
“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,” said the
statement from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York and other senior
members of the party. “House Democrats will not be intimidated by
the Trump administration. Not today. Not ever.”
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