Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) was indicted on Tuesday for “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers” after breaching U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Delaney Hall Federal Immigration Facility in Newark, New Jersey, on May 9.
In a Tuesday press release, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba announced that McIver had been charged in a three-count indictment for “forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers.”
“According to the allegations in the indictment, McIver forcibly impeded and interfered with federal officers as they attempted to arrest an individual outside the Delaney Hall Federal Immigration Facility in Newark, New Jersey on May 9, 2025,” the press release stated.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, McIver and two other members of Congress went to the Delaney Hall Federal Immigration Facility on May 9 for a congressional oversight inspection while an immigration protest rally was being held in Newark. The attorney’s office noted that the members of Congress entered a secured area at the facility and that the mayor of Newark was also given access to the secured area.
READ MORE: Video: Democrat congresswoman charged for breaching ICE facility
Tuesday’s press release explained that McIver and the other members of Congress challenged a federal officer after the officer notified the Newark mayor that he was not authorized to be in the secured area of the facility and that he would be arrested if he did not leave the secured area. The attorney’s office said that when officials later attempted to arrest the mayor, “McIver and others surrounded the Mayor and prevented the officers from handcuffing him.”
“After the Mayor was escorted outside the secured area, law enforcement officers made a second attempt to arrest him. At this time, someone in the crowd yelled ‘circle the mayor.’ McIver then faced the Mayor and placed her arms around him in an effort to prevent HSI from completing the arrest,” the press release added. “During her continued attempts to thwart the arrest, McIver slammed her forearm into the body of one law enforcement officer and also reached out and tried to restrain that officer by forcibly grabbing him. McIver also used each of her forearms to forcibly strike a second officer.”
McIver currently faces up to eight years in prison for each of the first two counts and up to one year in prison for the third count brought against her by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
In a statement obtained by Fox News, Paul Fishman, McIver’s attorney, responded to the congresswoman’s indictment, saying, “This prosecution is political retaliation against a dedicated public servant… We fully expect the Congresswoman’s exoneration.”
