The Department of Justice has accused Rep. LaMonica McIver of assaulting two federal agents at the Delaney Hall Detention Facility in New Jersey last month, according to a new charging document.
The document cites bodycam footage from law enforcement officers who recorded events as McIver and two other New Jersey lawmakers stormed the ICE facility. Prosecutors say the first officer McIver allegedly assaulted was a Homeland Security Investigations agent and the second was an ICE agent.
The DOJ accuses McIver of having “slammed her forearm into the body of a uniformed HSI agent and reached out and tried to restrain the agent by forcibly grabbing him.”
The charging document also states that McIver “pushed an ICE officer & used her forearms to forcibly strike the agent.”
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McIver rejected the charges in a public statement, arguing they are “purely political.”
“Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district,” she wrote. “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,” she continued. “This administration will never stop me from working for the people in our district and standing up for what is right. I am thankful for the outpouring of support I have received and I look forward to the truth being laid our clearly in court.”
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Prosecutors say McIver helped create a “human shield” and blocked agents from handcuffing Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after he ignored numerous warnings to leave the property and was told he would be arrested.
When the HSI agent told the mayor he was going to arrest him, McIver interjected and yelled “Hell no! Hell no! Hell no!” according to the charging document.
The HSI agent then ordered Baraka to put his hands behind his back and displayed his handcuffs. McIver and other members of Congress “surrounded the Mayor and prevented HSI from handcuffing him and taking him into custody,” prosecutors say.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem weighed in on the charges against McIver on Monday, saying, “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,” the secretary wrote. “We thank our brave ICE law enforcement officers for their service to this great nation.”
Read the DOJ’s full charging document below (App users click here)
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