New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver was indicted Tuesday on federal charges of assaulting and interfering with officers at an immigration detention center last month, though she calls them "baseless political charges," per NJ.com. They stem from a May 9 encounter with federal officers at Newark's Delaney Hall, a private facility under contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. McIver says she and other Democrats in Congress were there for an oversight visit. Federal prosecutors instead allege she was taking part in an unauthorized protest at the facility when she assaulted two federal officers who were trying to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
Prosecutors say that McIver and others formed a human shield around Baraka, and that McIver pushed one officer and "slammed" her forearm into another. Baraka was arrested and charged with trespassing, and though the charge was later dropped at the request of prosecutors, he's suing interim US Attorney Alina Habba for what he calls a malicious prosecution. McIver offers a similar description of her indictment on three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding, and interfering with federal officials, which carry up to 17 years in prison.
This 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," the first-term congresswoman says in a statement, per the AP. "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." In her own statement, Habba says, "While people are free to express their views for or against particular policies, they must not do so in a manner that endangers law enforcement and the communities those officers serve." (More New Jersey stories.)
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