The immigration debate reached a boiling point Friday afternoon, when Democratic lawmakers clashed with Homeland Security Department officers while attempting to visit an Immigration Customs and Enforcement facility in Newark, New Jersey, despite Congress’ oversight authority over federal facilities.
On Friday, three New Jersey congressmen and protesters clashed with Department of Homeland Security officers after visiting a local ICE detention facility. The incident began when officers attempted to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after he tried to join the lawmakers inside the facility.
As tensions rose, so did the physicality of the situation, with officers and lawmakers pushing and shouting at each other before Baraka, a Democrat, was eventually detained for several hours. He was released on Friday evening.
The annual appropriations act allows lawmakers to enter facilities operated by the Department of Homeland Security for detaining or housing aliens.
The law also states that members of Congress are not required “to provide prior notice of the intent to enter a facility” in their oversight capacity. A spokesperson for Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, one of the lawmakers who visited the facility Friday, said the group was allowed to enter and inspect the center between 3 and 4 p.m.
Following the incident, a DHS official suggested charges be filed against the members of Congress, accusing them of breaking into the facility despite their legal authority to oversee the department.
In a statement, the DHS accused the lawmakers of being “holed up in a guard shack” after having “stormed the gate” to break “into the detention facility.”
“Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities.”
Watson Coleman, who was at the facility on Friday, strongly denied that the members had broken into it, saying in a statement that afternoon, “we did not’storm’ the detention center.”
“The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground that they didn’t even correctly count the number of Representatives present,” the member of Congress claimed.
During an appearance on CNN’s “First of All” Saturday morning, McLaughlin stated that ICE has footage that could lead to the arrest of lawmakers. “There are likely to be more arrests. Body camera footage shows some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer. So we will show it to viewers very soon,” she said.
When asked by CNN’s Victor Blackwell if she was suggesting that members of Congress be arrested, McLaughlin responded, “This is an ongoing investigation, and that is definitely on the table.”
The department later released the videos, which show Baraka’s arrest as well as additional angles of the physical altercation between federal agents, protesters, and members of Congress.
One video appears to show Rep. LaMonica McIver using her body to push past federal agents to follow Baraka after he was handcuffed and moved behind a chain-link fence.
Baraka, to whom the appropriations law does not apply, was detained for several hours before being released. It is unclear why he was detained outside the facility’s fenced-in area after leaving the detention center.
“I didn’t go there to break the law. “I did not break any laws,” Baraka told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday, shortly after being released. “I was there as the mayor of the city, exercising my right and duty as an elected official, you know, supporting our congresspeople preparing for a press conference that was supposed to happen there.”
DHS has reacted strongly to the incident, stating on social media: “Just because the border is secure doesn’t mean you can find new walls to climb over guys.”
