US Charges Congresswoman With Assault, Drops Case Against Baraka

The US Justice Department charged a Democratic House lawmaker from Newark, New Jersey, with assault after a confrontation with US immigration officers, while dropping a trespassing charge against the mayor arising from the same incident.

Alina Habba, the interim US attorney for New Jersey, said Monday that US Representative LaMonica McIverassaulted and interfered with law enforcement outside the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall detention facility on May 9 in Newark. Habba dropped the misdemeanor trespassing charge against Mayor Ras Baraka, whose arrest triggered a flurry of shoving outside the building.

McIver, 38, had joined two other Democratic House members in touring Delaney Hall, which GEO Group Inc.operates under a 15-year US contract that the company values at more than $1 billion. Baraka and others have protested that GEO reopened the facility without a valid certificate of occupancy, which the company denies.

Their protests reflect resistance to the immigration policies of President Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport millions of migrants, using facilities like Delaney. A Wisconsin state court judge also faces federal charges that she tried to block an arrest by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside her courtroom last month.

Crossed the Line

Habba said she supports congressional oversight but McIver crossed the line.

“I have persistently made efforts to address these issues without bringing criminal charges and have given Representative McIver every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she has unfortunately declined,” Habba said Monday in a post on X. “No one is above the law — politicians or otherwise.”

LaMonica McIver demands the release of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka after his arrest while protesting outside an ICE detention facility in Newark on May 9.

Photographer: Angelina Katsanis/AP Photo

On Tuesday, McIver called the charges “absurd” in an interview on CNN.

“I was there to do my job, along with my other colleagues,” she said, calling it their “obligation” and adding, “It’s in our job description to have oversight over a facility. And the entire situation was escalated by ICE.”

Baraka, a Democrat running for governor in the June 10 primary, has also denied wrongdoing. In a statement, he said he was “glad” to see the case against him dropped.

‘Daughter of Newark’

“I have had strong relationships with prior U.S. attorneys, and I plan to speak with the current U.S. attorney about issues on which we can cooperate,” Baraka said. “As to Delaney Hall, I will continue to advocate for the humane treatment of detainees, and I will continue to press the facility to ensure that it is compliant with City of Newark codes and regulations.”

He added that he supports McIver, “a daughter of Newark,” and “I fully expect her to be vindicated.”

Habba said in her statement that she dropped the case against Baraka “for the sake of moving forward,” and “in the spirit of public interest” she invited him to tour Delaney.

“The government has nothing to hide at this facility, and I will personally accompany the mayor so he can see that firsthand,” she said.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka exits court in Newark on May 15.

Photographer: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Alleged Assault

A two-count criminal complaint detailed McIver’s alleged actions during the arrest of Baraka, who has said he was invited into the facility. McIver was there with two other House Democrats from New Jersey, Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

After Baraka and the House members entered through a secure gate, a Homeland Security Investigations agent identified as V-1 spent five minutes telling the mayor to leave and “issued multiple warnings that he would be arrested if he did not do so,” according to a complaint by HSI agent Robert Tansey.

When McIver protested Baraka’s removal, V-1 said, “Congresspeople are different” and had the authority to be there, while the mayor didn’t. When an agent said Baraka would be arrested, McIver yelled, “Hell no! Hell no! Hell no!” She and others “surrounded the mayor and prevented HSI from handcuffing him and taking him into custody,” Tansey wrote.

“McIver faced the mayor and placed her arms around him,” the agent wrote. “She and others encircled him in a ‘human shield’ effort to prevent HSI from completing the arrest.”

She then “slammed her forearm into the body of V-1” and “tried to restrain V-1 by forcibly grabbing him,” the agent wrote. McIver also pushed another ICE officer and “used each of her forearms to forcibly strike” that officer.

‘Spectacularly Inappropriate’

McIver attorney Paul Fishman said the decision to charge her was “spectacularly inappropriate,” and she had a right to see how ICE treats detainees.

“Rather than facilitating that inspection, ICE agents chose to escalate what should have been a peaceful situation into chaos,” Fishman, a former US attorney for the District of New Jersey, said in a statement. “This prosecution is an attempt to shift the blame for ICE’s behavior to Congresswoman McIver. In the courtroom, facts – not headlines – will matter.”

McIver, a former Newark city councilwoman, won a special election in September to fill the seat of the late Representative Donald Payne.

Menendez holds the House seat once held by his father, Bob, a former US senator convicted last year of bribery and acting as a foreign agent of Egypt. He was sentenced this year to 11 years in prison.

Watson Coleman is a former state lawmaker and the first African American woman to represent New Jersey in the House.

The case is US v. McIver, 25-mj-15118, US District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).

(An AI summary on an earlier version of the story was removed for mischaracterizing whether the facility was permitted to reopen.)

(Updates with details of arrest complaint against McIver.)

--With assistance from Myles Miller.

To contact the reporters on this story:
David Voreacos in New York at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net;
Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.net;
Ellen M. Gilmer in Washington at egilmer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net

Pierre Paulden, Peter Jeffrey

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