A New Jersey grand jury on Tuesday indicted Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey on three charges of assaulting federal law enforcement officers during a clash last month outside of a Newark ICE detention center, interim New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced on X.
In May, Habba announced her office was charging McIver with two counts of “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement,” after a clash between law enforcement, lawmakers and protesters who claimed conditions at the Delaney Hall detention center were unsafe and illegal.
On May 9, McIver and two other members of Congress went to Delaney Hall and attempted to conduct federal oversight of the 10,000 bed detention center. During their visit, protesters — including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka — scuffled with law enforcement, resulting in Baraka’s arrest for charges of misdemeanor trespassing. Charges against him have since been dropped.
A special agent with the Newark division of the Department of Homeland Security investigation team alleged in a sworn affidavit for the initial charges that after McIver and others attempted to block Baraka’s arrest by creating a human shield, she “slammed her forearm into the body” of a uniformed Homeland Security Investigations agent and “reached out and tried to restrain” that agent from grabbing the mayor.
He also stated that after Baraka was in custody, she “pushed an ICE officer” and “used each of her forearms to forcibly strike” them.
In footage posted online by DHS, McIver, wearing a red jacket, can be seen along the Delaney Hall fence as Baraka is being arrested. As the group of protesters and law enforcement start to brush up against each other, McIver is spotted using her elbows to move herself past an officer.
In a statement, McIver said that she would enter a not guilty plea and called the new indictment “a brazen attempt at political intimidation.”
“This indictment is no more justified than the original charges, and is an effort by Trump’s administration to dodge accountability for the chaos ICE caused and scare me out of doing the work I was elected to do,” McIver wrote.
Habba is a close Trump ally and served as his personal attorney in his New York criminal trial.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
contributed to this report.
