A federal grand jury has indicted Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., on three criminal counts, after the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey alleged that she broke the law when Congress members' visit to an immigration detention facility ended in a physical altercation.
"McIver forcibly impeded and interfered with federal officers as they attempted to arrest" Newark Mayor Ras Baraka outside the Delaney Hall Federal Immigration Facility in Newark, N.J., on May 9, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The indictment lists three counts of "assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering" with federal officers, with a potential prison sentence if McIver is convicted.
The indictment was announced by interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba, President Trump's former personal attorney who briefly served as counselor to the president before being named to the federal prosecutor post in March.
McIver says she'll plead not guilty to the charges, which she says are politically motivated.
"The facts of this case will prove I was simply doing my job," the representative said in a statement. She called the proceedings against her "a brazen attempt at political intimidation."
The charges come as Trump administration officials such as "border czar" Tom Homan have warned officials not to interfere with or impede immigration enforcement operations.
A chaotic scene at immigration detention center
The indictment stems from a confrontation that erupted days after the Delaney Hall center opened, despite criticisms — and a lawsuit — from the city of Newark. The contractor that owns Delaney Hall, GEO Group, was awarded what it described as a 15-year, $1 billion federal contract to reestablish the 1,000-bed facility in late February.
The city said the process of opening the center bypassed necessary city permits and permissions. The Department of Homeland Security says those claims are false, and that the center has valid permits and passed safety inspections.
McIver and other lawmakers were on an inspection visit to Delaney Hall when the Newark mayor joined them there. McIver's group sought to intervene when federal officers ordered Baraka to leave and moved to arrest him, according to official accounts and images from the scene.
A photographic timeline assembled by the The Jersey Vindicator suggests that the mayor never made it much farther than the security gate before walking back out and being arrested by federal agents.
Baraka was arrested that day, but 10 days later, Habba said her office would agree to dismiss a misdemeanor trespassing charge against him. That prompted a reprimand from Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa, who held a hearing on the motion to dismiss.
"The hasty arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, followed swiftly by the dismissal of these trespassing charges a mere 13 days later, suggests a worrisome misstep" by the U.S. Attorney's Office, he said.
"An arrest, particularly of a public figure, is not a preliminary investigative tool," the judge told federal prosecutors. "It is a severe action, carrying significant reputational and personal consequences, and it should only be undertaken after a thorough dispassionate evaluation of credible evidence."
Charges unveiled against McIver
As Habba announced the end of the case against Baraka, she also said McIver would face criminal charges.
"No one is above the law — politicians or otherwise," Habba said.
But McIver's attorney, Paul Fishman, calls the prosecution a case of political retaliation.
"We are eager to challenge these allegations head-on in court and fully expect the Congresswoman's exoneration," he said in a statement to NPR.
The Trump administration's narrative about the incident has shifted in recent weeks. On May 9, a Homeland Security press release alleged that McIver, along with Democratic New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, "stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility." But Tuesday's indictment states that the lawmakers entered when the security gate was opened for a vehicle, and then proceeded to an interior reception area.
Other discrepancies emerge in comparing the initial criminal complaint and the indictment against McIver. The complaint alleged that Baraka was allowed through the gate after the lawmakers "because the guard was under the impression that the Mayor was part of the Congressional delegation." But the indictment against McIver states that Baraka was allowed into the secured area "when the guard became concerned for [his] safety amidst the crowd of protesters."
Both filings state that once Baraka was inside the gate, officers told him to leave, threatening to arrest the mayor. McIver and her colleagues then sought to intervene.
"Congress people are different," a Homeland Security Investigations special agent told the lawmakers, according to the criminal complaint, "indicating members of Congress had lawful authority to be there, and that the Mayor did not."
That quote is not included in the indictment against McIver. But both documents state that when an HSI agent brought out his handcuffs to arrest Baraka, McIver's group tried to surround the mayor and prevent him from being taken into custody. Once the mayor was back outside the security gate, the indictment states, McIver followed and put her arms around him. The mayor was then arrested.
Counts against McIver carry prison sentences
The indictment against McIver lists three counts of "assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with" federal officers.
The first count alleges that the lawmaker "slammed her forearm into" a Homeland Security Investigations special agent and forcibly grabbed him as she attempted to prevent Baraka's arrest. The second count alleges that as McIver moved back toward the secured area following the mayor's arrest, she pushed her way past an ICE deportation officer "while using each of her forearms to forcibly strike" him. The third count does not provide any further specific details about McIver's alleged actions.
If McIver is convicted, the maximum penalty she would face is 17 years in prison: 8 years for each of the first two counts, and 1 year for the third, according to the Justice Department.
Congressional Democrats have defended McIver and called for assurances that the case against her has been properly handled — including satisfying public integrity safeguards within the Justice Department that are aimed at preventing politically motivated prosecutions.
McIver "was doing her job and conducting oversight as a duly elected member of Congress," Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley said via X. She accused President Trump of "using baseless legal tactics to smear & silence this honorable Black Congresswoman," adding, "but it won't work."
The criminal case is being overseen by Magistrate Judge Stacey D. Adams, who was appointed by District of New Jersey district judges one year ago.
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