The Justice Department has filed two felony assault charges against Democrat U.S. Representative LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, pursuant to the Democrat-provoked fracas outside an illegal-alien detention facility.
McIver attacked federal agents when they tried to handcuff a Democrat mayor who refused to leave the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility after being ordered to do so.
The Democrats claim they were merely conducting “oversight,” which video shows to be patently false. But that aside, the worry is, as legal scholar Jonathan Turley wrote, in far-left New Jersey, a jury will acquit McIver because it backs her “cause.”
That “cause” is stopping the deportation of illegal-alien rapists, murderers, and terrorists.
Near Riot
As The New American reported last week, video shows McIver pushing and shoving ICE agents at the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark. Also involved in the rumble at the center’s gate were Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, along with far-left U.S. Representatives Rob Menendez and Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Federal agents arrested Baraka for trespassing.
The out-of-control Democrats, of course, claim they were wronged. They were only there to conduct “oversight,” they said. ICE, they allege, started the trouble. But video doesn’t lie.
Yesterday, DOJ filed two felony charges against McIver under 18 U.S. Code 111, “assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees.” It dropped the trespassing charge against Baraka.
“Perimeter cameras show that when the security gate of Delaney Hall opened momentarily to allow a vehicle to enter into the secure area of the facility, McIVER and two other members of Congress moved quickly inside the secured area as the gate closed,” the criminal complaint says:
Once the group entered the secured area, the Mayor arrived thereafter at the facility and was told he could not enter without authorization.
However, the Mayor returned with members of his security detail and was able to enter inside the gate because the guard was under the impression that the Mayor was part of the Congressional delegation.
The trouble began when an agent with Homeland Security Investigations ordered the mayor — repeatedly over about five minutes — to exit the “facility’s secure area.” Otherwise, the agent said, he would arrest the recalcitrant far-left Democrat.
That’s when McIver butted in. “Congress people are different,” she told the agent, “indicating members of Congress had lawful authority to be there, and that the Mayor did not.” When the agent tried to arrest Baraka, McIver pushed her proboscis farther into the dispute.
Continues the complaint:
McIVER interjected, yelling “Hell no! Hell no! Hell no!” The HSI agent ordered the Mayor to put his hands behind his back and displayed his handcuffs. McIVER and other members of Congress surrounded the Mayor and prevented HSI from handcuffing him and taking him into custody.
McIVER initially remained inside the secured area as the Mayor was then moved outside the gate. Once outside, HSI agents again attempted to handcuff the Mayor. At that time, McIVER hurried outside towards the agents and attempted to thwart the arrest as others yelled “circle the Mayor.”
McIVER faced the Mayor and placed her arms around him. She and others encircled him in a “human shield” effort to prevent HSI from completing the arrest that was initiated in the secured area. McIVER’s attempts to thwart the arrest included, but are not limited to the following acts.
McIVER slammed her forearm into the body of V-1, a uniformed HSI agent. She also reached out and tried to restrain V-1 by forcibly grabbing him.
Following the arrest, McIVER also pushed an ICE officer (V-2) and used each of her forearms to forcibly strike V-2 as she returned inside the secure area of the facility.
The complaint includes photos of McIver’s rampage.
No One Is Above the Law
Said the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, “McIver assaulted, impeded, and interfered with law enforcement.… That conduct cannot be overlooked by the chief federal law enforcement official in the State of New Jersey, and it is my Constitutional obligation to ensure that our federal law enforcement is protected when executing their duties.”
Habba said she tried to “address these issues without bringing criminal charges and have given Representative McIver every opportunity to come to a resolution, but she has unfortunately declined.”
“No one is above the law — politicians or otherwise,” Habba concluded. “It is the job of this office to uphold justice impartially, regardless of who you are. Now we will let the justice system work.”
On X, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reiterated Habba:
No one is above the law. If any person, regardless of political party, influence or status, assaults a law enforcement officer as we witnessed Congresswoman McIver do, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“The charges against me are purely political — they mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight,” McIver said.
Turley Explains the Law
Not really, Turley explained.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said criminal charges would cross a “redline,” Turley noted, “but not the one that he was thinking of in threatening consequences for any charges. The red line is the one separating political expression and criminal conduct.”
Yes, Turley said, citing Border Czar Tom Homan, “political leaders … can protest,” but “‘can’t cross the line’ into obstruction and interference with their operations.”
Continued Turley:
If oversight means that members can force their way into any federal facilities, we would have 535 roaming inspectors general who could wander at will through the executive branch.
Rep. McIver would be better to claim a different type of oversight, in allowing her passion to briefly overwhelm her judgment in rushing into the facility.
Still, McIver as well as Judge Hannah Duggan — arrested for helping an illegal alien escape her courtroom when ICE showed up to arrest him — enjoy one big advantage. They will be tried in far-left federal districts and “appear before sympathetic jurors,” Turley observed:
They need to just convince a single jury to engage in “jury nullification,” to vote based on the cause, not the crime, in the case.
H/T: The New York Times
