DOJ fees New Jersey congresswoman with assault over immigration facility tussle : NPR

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Jemal Countess/Getty Pictures for MoveOn The Justice Division has charged Rep. LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, for allegedly assaulting legislation enforcement officers exterior an immigration detention facility final week.

The fees had been introduced on social media by the interim U.S. legal professional for New Jersey, Alina Habba, who beforehand served as a private legal professional for President Trump.

In line with court docket papers filed on Tuesday, McIver faces two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and a Homeland Safety Investigations particular agent throughout a confrontation exterior the Delaney Corridor detention facility in Newark.

Democrats have denounced the costs as politically motivated and an effort by the Trump administration and the Justice Division to intimidate members of Congress and chill oversight.

Habba stated she tried to deal with the matter with McIver and resolve it with out bringing fees, however that the congresswoman declined.

"Nobody is above the legislation — politicians or in any other case," Habba stated. "It's the job of this workplace to uphold justice impartially, no matter who you might be. Now we are going to let the justice system work."

McIver denounced the costs in opposition to her, calling the case "purely political."

"They mischaracterize and warp my actions, and are supposed to criminalize and deter legislative oversight," she stated in a press release. "I sit up for the reality being laid out clearly in court docket."

Delaney Corridor is the primary new detention heart to reopen throughout Trump's second time period, after closing in 2017, because the Trump administration seeks extra detention area for arrested migrants. A number of native officers protested its official reopening earlier this month.

McIver stated she and her colleagues had been on the facility to conduct lawful oversight of the therapy of detainees there. The go to ought to have been quick and peaceable, she stated, however as a substitute became an pointless confrontation when ICE brokers selected to arrest Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

Baraka had been going through a misdemeanor trespassing cost, however Habba stated in her assertion that she has dropped the case in opposition to him.

The Justice Division's determination to convey fees in opposition to McIver obtained quick pushback from congressional Democrats and New Jersey state officers.

The highest Democrat within the Home, Hakeem Jeffries, and his management staff known as the costs "excessive" and "morally bankrupt," and stated they lack any authorized or factual foundation.

"We're lawfully permitted to indicate up at any federal facility unannounced to conduct an inspection on behalf of the American folks," they stated in a press release. "By visiting the detention heart in Newark, Rep. McIver and two different Members of Congress had been upholding their oath of workplace. They did not assault anybody, however had been themselves aggressively mistreated by illegally masked people."