Trump admin eyes arrests for House Dems over ICE incident

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Democratic members of Congress who were part of a scuffle with law enforcement officers at an ICE facility in New Jersey may face arrests, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Axios Saturday.

Why it matters: It would be a major escalation in the Trump administration's arrests of politicians and other public servants, including the mayor of Newark and a judge in Milwaukee.

DHS is accusing the House Democrats of assaulting law enforcement. The lawmakers say they were the ones who were assaulted.

The lawmakers involved in the incident: Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Rob Menendez (D-N.J.) and LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.).

What they're saying: DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a CNN interview on Saturday morning that "there will likely be more arrests coming."

"We actually have body camera footage of these members of Congress assaulting these ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer," she added.
McLaughlin said there is an "ongoing investigation" and that arresting the lawmakers is "definitely on the table."

She confirmed in a text message to Axios that the House Democrats may be arrested.

The other side: "Threatening to arrest Members of Congress for exercising their lawful oversight authority is another example of this administration abusing its power to try to intimidate anyone who stands up to them," said a spokesperson for Watson Coleman.

The spokesperson said their office has "reviewed the body came footage" and that it proves "ICE agents put their hands on Members of Congress ... it also proves that DHS has been lying about this incident."

"We're honestly surprised they released this footage given that it so wholly contradicts their claims. Nobody was 'body slammed' nobody 'assaulted' any agents, and this footage confirms that."

DHS posted to social media a video that it said proved McIver assaulted an ICE officer.

Zoom in: McIver said at a press conference Friday after the incident that she was "assaulted by multiple ICE officers while regional directors of ICE watched it happen."

"Nobody offered an apology or said anything to me about what occurred out here," she added.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) stood by his members in a statement saying "the masked agents who physically accosted two Congresswomen must be identified immediately."

What happened: The lawmakers and ICE officers got into a physical confrontation over the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for allegedly trespassing at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark.

The Democrats were there protesting the reopening of the facility to hold migrants, arguing that the private prison company operating it has failed to obtain the proper sanitation and safety permits.

Watson Coleman told reporters after a tour of the facility on Friday that the conditions "aren't bad ... it's clean, they're feeding them."

Between the lines: Democrats have argued that the arrests are unjustified based on laws that prohibit federal resources from being used to impede congressional oversight.

DHS has said that the lawmakers needed to provide advanced notice of their visit, and that a tour would have been facilitated had they done so.

The Justice Department said it filed charges Monday against Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., alleging she assaulted law enforcement this month at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark.

The acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, made the announcement on X, where she accused McIver of “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement.”

McIver called the charges “purely political” in a statement and said she looks forward “to the truth being laid out clearly in court.”

“Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district. We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short. Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor Baraka,” she said.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche backed Habba’s statement, writing on X that “assaults on federal law enforcement will not be tolerated.”

Habba, in a separate statement Monday, said her office had dropped trespassing charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested on May 9, the day McIver and two other House Democrats were at the facility.

"After extensive consideration, we have agreed to dismiss Mayor Baraka's misdemeanor charge of trespass for the sake of moving forward," Habba said in a statement, while adding that the dismissal of the charges against Baraka, a candidate for New Jersey governor, is not the end of the matter.

House Democratic leaders issued a joint statement condemning the charges, calling them “morally bankrupt” and lacking “any basis in law or in fact.”

“By visiting the detention center in Newark, Rep. McIver and two other Members of Congress were upholding their oath of office. They didn’t assault anyone, but were themselves aggressively mistreated by illegally masked individuals,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Reps. Katherine Clark, Pete Aguilar, Ted Lieu and Joe Negeuse.

“The proceeding initiated by the so-called U.S. Attorney in New Jersey is a blatant attempt by the Trump administration to intimidate Congress and interfere with our ability to serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch," adding that House Democrats will “respond vigorously in the days to come at a time, place and manner of our choosing.”