U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, speaks at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats on Tuesday blasted the assault charges the Trump administration is pursuing against New Jersey U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver following a clash with law enforcement earlier this month outside an immigration detention center in Newark.

Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, Democratic Women’s Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus defended McIver at a press conference attended by dozens of Democrats outside of the U.S. Capitol, arguing that the New Jersey Democrat was simply doing her job in conducting oversight of the facility.

In a criminal complaint, McIver is charged with two counts of “assaulting, resisting, and impeding certain officers or employees,” with one charge involving a Homeland Security Investigations special agent and another surrounding an Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer.

The charges are tied to McIver’s May 9 visit to the detention center, where she was accompanied by fellow New Jersey Democrats — Reps. Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman. The lawmakers had said they wanted to inspect the detention center.

Federal authorities say McIver assaulted two officers as she tried to prevent the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Alina Habba, acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, announced Monday that she would be dropping a trespassing charge against Baraka stemming from the same standoff.

‘Reprehensible political stunt’

At the Capitol press conference, Rep. Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, described the charges as a “reprehensible political stunt.”

The New York Democrat said “members of Congress have every right to conduct oversight at ICE facilities and any other federal agency, and when egregious, undeniable and vicious violations of the law and people’s freedoms are taking place, we, they, in fact, have an obligation to do so.”

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker said McIver, Menendez and Watson Coleman “stood their ground, used their voice and did their job.”

“They actually are obeying the Constitution. They are standing up to give checks and balances to this administration at a time that the Republicans in control of the House and the Senate are laying down and completely abrogating their duties to check and balance and give oversight to the president,” he added.

New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone also condemned the charges on Tuesday, calling the Justice Department’s actions “outrageous.”

Ahead of a Tuesday hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on “threats to ICE operations,” Pallone led several other New Jersey Democrats in writing to the panel’s chair, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, and ranking member, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, to express their support for the three lawmakers’ oversight visit to the detention center.

The group also condemned what they see as efforts from the Justice and Homeland Security Departments to “politicize and suppress lawful Congressional oversight through acts of intimidation and threats of legal action against our colleagues.”

‘Baseless charges’

Rep. Greg Casar, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the Department of Justice “filing baseless charges against a member of Congress for simply doing her job should send a chill down the spine of every American.”

The Texas Democrat said the caucus held a meeting just before the press conference where they decided that they are “just about to go and do a lot more oversight visits at ICE facilities.”

He said the members of the caucus recognized at the meeting that President Trump “doesn’t want us conducting oversight at ICE facilities like these brave members of Congress were doing — he wants to intimidate us out of doing that.” 

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, one of six Democrats vying to become New Jersey's next governor, has been a vocal critic of a new migrant jail in the city he runs. (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)

Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark and one of six Democrats running to be New Jersey’s next governor, was arrested and detained by federal immigration agents Friday, according to his campaign.

This comes just over a week after the migrant jail, Delaney Hall, opened its doors as the largest detention center on the east coast. Baraka, whose city filed a lawsuit challenging whether the facility’s owner secured proper city permits before opening, has spent the week protesting outside the jail and attempting to gain entry, to no avail.

A photo taken by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12), who was also at Delaney Hall Friday, shows a handcuffed Baraka being led away from the facility in handcuffs. It’s unclear whether he has been charged with any crime and where he is being held.

Acting U.S. Attorney of New Jersey Alina Habba said on social media that Baraka “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center.”

“He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody,” said Habba.

Habba, a personal lawyer for President Donald Trump, said in April that she is investigating Gov. Phil Murphy and state Attorney General Matt Platkin over the state ban on local law enforcement assisting in civil immigration enforcement. Under a 2018 attorney general directive, state, county, and local cops are barred from aiding federal agencies in civil immigration arrests or providing access to state or local resources and databases.

In February, private prison firm Geo Group announced it had secured a 15-year contract with ICE to use Delaney Hall as a 1,100-bed detention center amid ramped-up immigration enforcement. Trump has made mass detention and deportation of immigrants — including some here legally — a pillar of his second term in office.

Delaney Hall, which held immigrant detainees from 2011 to 2017, reopened May 1, despite Newark officials’ attempts to block the opening through the lawsuit. ICE officials have confirmed that detainees are being held there, but have not said how many.

The Attorney General’s Office and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

New Jersey Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com.