Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., was indicted Tuesday on federal charges stemming from a confrontation with law enforcement at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark last month.
Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba said in a post on X that a federal grand jury indicted McIver on three counts for “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers.”
“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,” Habba wrote.
Follow live politics coverage here
McIver called the legal proceedings against her “a brazen attempt at political intimidation,” and said she will be pleading 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.”
The indictment comes three weeks after the Justice Department filed charges against the Democratic lawmaker for allegedly assaulting law enforcement at an ICE facility in Newark.
McIver and two other New Jersey Democrats were visiting the ICE facility in May to conduct an oversight visit when a protest was taking place.
Department of Homeland Security officials arrested Newark Mayor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka that day on trespassing charges, and a DHS spokesperson at the time said the lawmakers had “stormed” the facility.
Habba’s office dropped the charges against Baraka last month.
McIver said to reporters at the time that she had been “assaulted by multiple ICE agents.”
The indictment alleges that McIver interjected during Baraka’s arrest, yelling, “Hell no! Hell no!” and that she “attempted to thwart” the arrest by putting her arms around Baraka.
It goes on to say that McIver “slammed her forearm” into one officer and “reached out and tried to restrain” the agent by “forcibly grabbing him.” It further alleges that the congresswoman pushed past a second agent, “using each of her forearms to visibly strike” him.
Habba said Tuesday that two of the counts carry a maximum penalty of eight years in prison, and the third count carries a one-year penalty.
McIver’s attorney, Paul Fishman, called the prosecution politically motivated.
“The legal process will expose this prosecution for what it truly is — political retaliation against a dedicated public servant who refuses to shy away from her oversight responsibilities,” he said in a statement. “We are eager to challenge these allegations head-on in court and fully expect the Congresswoman’s exoneration.”
