Homeland Security says it may arrest NJ members of Congress

🚨 Homeland Security says three NJ reps stormed ICE's Delaney Hall

🚨 The reps say ICE escalated the situation

🚨 More video should be released by ICE proving their case

NEWARK — Arrests of members of Congress are likely following the arrest of Mayor Ras Baraka at a privately run immigration detention facility on Friday.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told CNN on Saturday that ICE has evidence on body cam video that will likely lead to additional arrests of lawmakers.

McLaughlin said U.S. Reps. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J. 10th District, Rob Menendez, D-N.J. 8th District, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, D-N.J. 12th District, tried to "storm the gate." The lawmakers, citing body cam footage, denied that characterization of what happened and pointed out that the mayor was arrested on public property, not on the secure side of the fence.

“There will likely be more arrests coming," McLaughlin said. "We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer. So we will be showing that to viewers very shortly."

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ICE created an 'environment of intimidation,' lawmakers said

During an appearance on CNN’s "State of the Union," Menendez said there were opportunities for DHS to de-escalate the situation and they chose not to.

"They had over 20 armed ICE HSI officers. They were heavily armed, their faces were covered and they're wearing no identification. So this is who they chose to have come engage with the mayor of Newark and three elected members of the House of Representatives," Menendez said.

"They made this a violent scene that we all unfortunately were a part of and it's something that really should shock all Americans."

Watson Coleman said McLaughlin is trying to create an "environment of intimidation just by claiming  that perhaps we might be subject to arrest."

She blamed ICE for creating the chaos and claimed the three were doing oversight on the facility, which they are legally allowed to do.

McIver denied "bodyslamming" an ICE officer and said federal officials created the confrontation and chaos.

"I find it to be appalling that they say we were trespassing. How were we trespassing and then you offer us a tour at the end, which is the reason why we were there in the first place," McIver said.

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Chaotic scene

Baraka denied that he was trespassing and said that he had been invited onto the property.

Witnesses said the arrest came after Baraka attempted to join Menendez, McIver and Watson Coleman, who were allowed to enter the facility in their role as federal lawmakers.

When federal officials blocked Baraka's entry, a heated argument broke out, according to Viri Martinez, an activist with the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It continued even after Baraka returned to the public side of the gates.

“There was yelling and pushing,” Martinez said. “Then the officers swarmed Baraka. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put Baraka in handcuffs and put him in an unmarked car.”

The Department of Homeland Security said that the lawmakers had not asked for a tour of Delaney Hall, which the agency said it would have facilitated. The department said that as a bus carrying detainees was entering in the afternoon, “a group of protesters, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility.”

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