A trio of New Jersey House Democrats whose visit to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center devolved into a scuffle with federal agents on Friday may face arrest, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Lawmakers LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Rob Menendez allegedly stormed the Delaney Hall Detention Center, followed by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested and charged with trespassing. Authorities claim that an ICE agent was assaulted during the confrontation, which was captured on camera.
“If a typical US citizen tried to storm into a detention facility housing dangerous criminals or anyone else, they would be arrested,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told “Fox News Live” host Kevin Corke on Saturday. “Being a member of Congress or a public official does not make you above the law.
“If you assault a law enforcement officer, we will also make sure you answer to justice,” she promised. “So, I believe arrests are still on the table for this. “This is an ongoing investigation.”
Axios reported that DHS has body camera footage of Congress members assaulting ICE officers, including body-slamming a female officer.
Protesters, including lawmakers, stormed the detention center as a bus of detainees entered the security gate, according to a DHS news release.
McIver claimed in an X post that ICE “shoved” her and “manhandled” Watson Coleman.
During a press conference, McIver increased her claims, saying she was “assaulted by multiple ICE officers while regional directors of ICE watched it happen.”
DHS footage posted to X Saturday appears to show McIver running unabated through law enforcement near the gate.
DHS officials have not confirmed any pending charges against the individuals accused of storming the center.
Watson Coleman, who also accused an ICE agent of shoving her, wrote in an X post that she, McIver, and Menendez visited the center on Friday “to exercise our oversight authority as Members of Congress.”
DHS officials confirmed that those detained at the contested prison include “murderers, terrorists, child rapists, and MS-13 gang members.”
“Contrary to a press statement put out by DHS we did not ‘storm’ the detention center,” Watson Coleman wrote on Twitter. “The author of that press release was so unfamiliar with the facts on the ground[s] that they didn’t even correctly count the number of Representatives present.”
Baraka was handcuffed, detained for five hours, and officially charged with trespassing.
“They did this on a charge of trespass, a municipal charge that would normally result in a ticket,” Baraka’s attorneys said in a statement to Fox News. “His subsequent release by the court demonstrates that there was no reason to believe that this well-known and widely respected public official was either a flight risk or a danger to the community that he served.”
Baraka’s attorneys argued that the mayor was exercising his First Amendment rights and “acted throughout with calm, restraint, and dignity in a law-abiding manner.”
They also accused Alina Habba, the US attorney for New Jersey, of “repeatedly” making “inaccurate, inflammatory, and unfair” public statements.
In an X post Friday, Habba wrote, “The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to leave the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, this afternoon. He has freely chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He’s been taken into custody. “No one is above the law.”
Baraka’s attorneys appeared to accuse Habba of “falsely making public statements accusing the Mayor of violating the ‘rule of law'” and “improperly claim[ing] that he is guilty of the trespass charge filed against him.”
