McIver was arraigned in federal court in Newark on Wednesday.
FILE – Congresswoman Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., exits the grounds at Delaney Hall, an ICE detention facility, May 9, 2025, in Newark, N.J, NEWARK, N.J. — U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal charges accusing her of assaulting and interfering with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center during a “They will not intimidate me.
They will not stop me from doing my job,” she said outside the courthouse in Newark after the brief hearing.by interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, following the May 9 visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility as a detention center.on three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials. Two of the counts carry a maximum sentence of up to eight years in prison. The third is a misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of one year in prison. During Wednesday’s hearing, McIver stood and told U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper: “Your honor, I plead not guilty.” The judge set a Nov. 10 trial date. Outside the courthouse, McIver warned that anyone who pushes back against the Trump administration will find themselves in a similar position. McIver’s lawyer, former U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman, said McIver pleaded not guilty because she is not guilty. He said federal agents created a risky situation at Delaney Hall.Among those at McIver’s side Wednesday were her family and elected officials, including Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was outside the detention center with McIver and other legislators on May 9.Baraka accused the Trump administration of using law enforcement as “an appendage of their ideology to begin to hammer us.” The indictment of McIver is the latest development in a legal-political drama that has seen the Trump administration take Democratic officials from New Jersey’s largest city to court amid the president’s ongoing immigration crackdown and Democrats’ efforts to respond. The prosecution is a rare federal criminal case against a sitting member of Congress for allegations other than fraud or corruption. A nearly two-minute video clip released by the Department of Homeland Security shows McIver at the facility inside a chain-link fence just before Baraka’s arrest on other side of the barrier, where other people were protesting. McIver and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor. The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police.” It is not clear from police bodycam video if the contact was intentional, incidental or the result of jostling in the chaotic scene. The complaint alleges that she “slammed” her forearm into an agent and then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him. The indictment also says she placed her arms around the mayor to try to stop his arrest and says again that she slammed her forearm into and grabbed an agent.A look at how Trump’s big bill could change the US immigration systemTrump’s budget bill could complicate 2026 tax filing season after IRS cuts, watchdog warns Democrats including New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, who were with McIver at the detention center that day, have criticized the arrest and disputed the charges. Members of Congress are legally authorized to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without notice. Congress passed a McIver, 39, first came to Congress in September in a special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in the 10th District. She was then elected to a full term in November. A Newark native, she was president of the Newark City Council from 2022 to 2024 and worked in the city’s public schools before that.Anger, uncertainty at UCLA hospital after immigration agents arrive with woman in custodyWoman gets life for masterminding husband’s murder in Woodland HillsSan Fernando Valley man admits to laundering millions of dollars obtained in a Medicare fraud schemeBobby Sherman, teen idol in the 1960s and ’70s, and later a CPR teacher, dies at 81
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