New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver has been indicted on federal charges related to a confrontation with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center, which culminated in Newark Mayor Ras Baraka being put in handcuffs and temporarily detained.
McIver is accused of “forcibly impeding and interfering” with federal law enforcement involved in a scuffle outside Delaney Hall, a 1,000-bed detention center that has courted controversy in recent months. She was at the facility on May 9, intent on carrying out an inspection alongside Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, when chaos erupted.
Witnesses on the scene said things took a turn when Baraka attempted to enter the facility with the delegation. He was blocked by federal officials, one of who told him he was not allowed to enter because he was “not a Congress member.” The mayor then returned to the public side of the gate before a man in a suit could be heard telling him: “They’re talking about coming back to arrest you.”
Within minutes, Baraka, — a Democrat who lost in Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary to U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) — was surrounded by ICE agents who put him in handcuffs, then hauled him off in an unmarked car. He spent several hours in custody before he was freed around 8 p.m. the same night.
In wake of the fracas, Baraka was charged with trespassing while McIver was hit with counts of impeding law enforcement efforts and assault. And while the charge against Baraka has since been dropped, acting U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced McIver’s grand jury indictment in a post on X on Tuesday.
McIver called the legal proceedings “a brazen attempt at political intimidation” and said she will plead not guilty.
“The facts of this case will prove I was simply doing my job and will expose these proceedings for what they are: a brazen attempt at political intimidation,” she said in a statement. “This indictment is no more justified than the original charges, and is an effort by Trump’s administration to dodge accountability for the chaos ICE caused and scare me out of doing the work I was elected to do.”
Baraka, meanwhile, is suing Habba over what he has called a malicious prosecution.
With News Wire Services