The Justice Department on Tuesday filed felony charges against New Jersey Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver for allegedly assaulting a federal law enforcement officer during a clash earlier this month between protesters and police outside of a Newark, New Jersey, ICE detention center, charging documents show.
Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced Monday that her office had charged McIver with “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement” on May 9, when law enforcement clashed with elected representatives and protestors who claim the detention center is dangerous and illegal. Habba is a close Trump ally and served as his personal attorney in his New York criminal trial.
In the same announcement, Habba said her office was dropping trespassing charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested after he attempted to join McIver and two other members of Congress from New Jersey who went to the 10,000-bed center, named Delaney Hall, to review the facility as part of legally allowed congressional oversight. Baraka was charged with one count of misdemeanor trespassing, which, if convicted, could have resulted in a maximum of 30 days in jail.
A special agent with the Newark, New Jersey, division of Homeland Security’s investigation team alleged in a sworn affidavit that after McIver and others attempted to block Baraka’s arrest by creating a human shield, she “slammed her forearm into the body” of a uniformed Homeland Security Investigations agent and “reached out and tried to restrain” that agent from grabbing the mayor. He also alleged that after Baraka was in custody, the congresswoman “pushed an ICE officer,” and “used each of her forearms to forcibly strike” them.
Jemal Countess/Getty Images for MoveOn 
In a statement after the charges were announced, McIver said that the charges are “purely political” and “mischaracterize and distort” what happened outside Delaney Hall. Paul J. Fishman, an attorney for McIver, said it was “spectacularly inappropriate” to charge her over the Delaney Hall incident, and said that “ICE agents chose to escalate what should have been a peaceful situation into chaos.”
She added that the charges are “meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight” of ICE detention centers and said she looks forward to “the truth being laid out clearly in court.”
McIver told reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill that she was not made aware of the charges before Habba’s X post, and said that she found out about the decision to charge her on the social media site. Habba’s post announcing the charges before they were filed and unsealed was a break from traditional Justice Department precedent. For years, charges would be filed and unsealed before the Justice Department commented on the case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey has not responded to comment on why the charges were publicly announced before being unsealed.
In footage posted online by the Department of Homeland Security, McIver, wearing a red jacket, can be seen along the Delaney Hall fence as Baraka is being arrested. As the group of protestors and law enforcement groups together and starts to brush up against each other, McIver is spotted using her elbows to move herself past an officer.
