Democratic Rep. McIver charged with assault after skirmish at ICE center, New Jersey prosecutor says

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and MIKE CATALINI
Associated Press

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.

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.”