Democratic congresswoman appears in court to fight charges she interfered with ICE arrest

By Lauren del Valle, CNN

Newark, New Jersey (CNN) — Rep. LaMonica McIver appeared in federal court Tuesday as she continues to fight a three-count indictment alleging she impeded and interfered with federal officers in a highly publicized incident at a Newark, New Jersey, ICE detention facility in May.

Her attorneys have argued she’s being selectively and vindictively prosecuted because her political views are at odds with the Trump administration.

Judge Jamel Semper did not rule from the bench on McIver’s motion to toss the charges, but he did ask prosecutors to push Department of Homeland Security officials to remove statements from their online platforms that allude to the incident involving McIver. The judge said it is prejudicial for “fact free” social media posts from government officials to be floating on the internet to potentially taint a jury pool while McIver’s prosecution is pending.

Semper said he’d seen posts from government officials that suggest information ”counter to the indictment” like claims that McIver trespassed and that the incident was tied to Antifa activity.

DHS press releases related to the incident have been removed, according to prosecutor Mark McCarren who also said he’d try to get the social media posts removed.

One X post that’s still visible on the official DHS profile suggests members of Congress “stormed” the facility gate.

The congresswoman was indicted in June on the charges connected to her alleged attempt to physically thwart the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat, outside the facility.

McIver, who joined the House Homeland Security Committee last year, was at the ICE facility with Democratic Reps. Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman for an oversight inspection. McIver’s attorneys say employees at the facility actively tried to impede her oversight of the facility delaying the lawmakers’ access.

Homeland security officials also forced Baraka out of the facility when he tried to join the congressional oversight visit. Baraka was then arrested for trespassing outside the facility gates in a crowd of protestors. The trespassing charge against Baraka was later dropped.

Prosecutors say when McIver tried to intervene in the arrest, she “slammed” her forearm into the body of a uniformed agent and forcibly grabbed him in an attempt to restrain him. McIver also allegedly pushed another ICE officer and “used each of her forearms to forcibly strike (him) as she returned inside the secure area of the facility,” according to the complaint.

If the case goes to trial on November 10 as currently scheduled, prosecutors said Tuesday they’ll rely heavily on surveillance and officers’ body worn camera footage that shows the scuffle that lasted just over a minute.

McIver’s defense attorney Paul Fishman argued any of the congresswoman’s conduct should be covered by the Speech or Debate Clause because she was there on legislative business. Semper questioned the idea that an alleged assault outside the facility gate was a part of her official legislative inspection.

McIver’s attorneys called her prosecution retaliatory and partisan claiming it’s “Part of a broader partisan agenda of ending ‘wokeness.”’ President Donald Trump has publicly criticized McIver since the incident and said the “days of woke are over” when commenting on her case.

Fishman said Tuesday that McIver’s prosecution is in stark contrast with Trump’s pardons of individuals accused of violent activity in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot.

“She was charged with something she never would’ve been charged with if she was a Republican,” Fishman said.

Semper challenged the defense, pointing out that the other Democratic lawmakers weren’t charged in connection to the incident on May 9.

McIver was shoved by an ICE agent and caught in a scuffle she didn’t start, Fishman argued.

The other members also weren’t as close to the action in the moment, Fishman added.

Fishman said ICE agents were “spectacularly irresponsible” in their handling of the mayor’s arrest, starting a “reckless” and “dangerous” situation in a crowd of civilians.

McIver told supporters after the hearing, “I’m not going to stop holding this administration accountable.”

Several Democrats, including Reps. Menendez and Watson Coleman, Ilhan Omar, Jasmine Crockett and Sara Jacobs appeared at the courthouse on Tuesday and spoke to a crowd of McIver’s supporters.

Baraka called McIver’s prosecution awful and told reporters after the hearing that the process for McIver to clear her name takes time away from the work she was elected to do.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.