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

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver is being charged with assault after a skirmish with federal officers who arrested the Newark mayor outside an immigration detention center, New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor announced Monday.

Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced the charge of assaulting, impeding or interfering with law enforcement on social media, but court papers providing details were not immediately released or publicly available online.

At the same time, Habba announced that her office was dismissing a misdemeanor case brought against 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.”

Her attorney called the decision to charge McIver “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.

“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.”

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.

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.”

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.”

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.

Alanna Durkin Richer, Eric Tucker And Mike Catalini, The Associated Press