A number of Democratic Congress members may soon face arrest for allegedly attacking law enforcement officials during their incursion into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in New Jersey.
In the incident captured on video, Congress members LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Rob Menendez, along with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, reportedly breached the Delaney Hall Detention Center, resulting in the assault of an ICE official, as reported by Fox News.
Currently, Baraka is the only individual from the group who has been arrested, but this situation may evolve, according to a spokeswoman for ICE.
According to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, during her appearance on ‘Fox News Live’ with host Kevin Corke on Saturday, if an ordinary U.S. citizen attempted to forcibly enter a detention facility housing dangerous criminals or any individual, they would face arrest.
She emphasized that being a member of Congress or a public official does not exempt one from the law. ‘If you assault a law enforcement officer, we will ensure you are held accountable,’ she stated.
‘Therefore, arrests remain a possibility as this investigation continues.’ Additionally, DHS claims to possess video evidence allegedly depicting a member of Congress ‘body-slamming a female ICE officer.’
The treatment we received at Delaney Hall is nearly unbelievable. ICE physically pushed me, roughly handled @repbonnie, and detained @rasjbaraka. They showed us a lack of respect and attempted to obstruct our oversight responsibilities, which we were elected to fulfill. Nevertheless, we will persist in our pursuit of justice,” she stated.
“In contrast to a press release issued by DHS, we did not ‘storm’ the detention center,” Rep. Watson Coleman remarked. “The individual responsible for that press release was so disconnected from the actual situation that they failed to accurately count the number of Representatives present.”
Nonetheless, bodycam footage released by ICE after the incident seems to depict McIver as the instigator.
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported on X: ‘NEW: The Department of Homeland Security has supplied @FoxNews with bodycam footage from the incident at the Delaney Hall detention facility that occurred yesterday.
The footage reportedly depicts @RepLaMonica (dressed in red) forcefully pushing past a DHS agent to access the premises, followed closely by @RepMenendez, and it also captures Congresswoman McIver yelling at DHS agents.’ Baraka’s legal representatives stated that he was taken into custody ‘on a trespassing charge, a municipal offense typically resolved with a citation.’ However, Alina Habba, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, indicated that the mayor had received multiple warnings regarding his potential arrest.’
This afternoon, Ras Baraka, the Mayor of Newark, violated the law by trespassing and disregarding several warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to vacate the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey. His decision to ignore the law is unacceptable in this state. He has been apprehended. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,” she stated in a post on X.
