Trump prosecutor drops case against Newark mayor but charges congresswoman with assault

🔴 U.S. Rep LaMonica McIver charged with trespass

🔴 Several Democrats were arrested at a Newark ICE facility on May 9

🔴 Newark Mayor Ras Baraka appeared in federal court Thursday

NEWARK — Congresswoman LaMonica McIver has been charged with federal crimes in connection with her arrest outside a Newark immigration detention facility earlier this month, according to interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.

The Trump-appointed prosecutor said Monday that McIver is charged with assaulting, impeding or interfering with law enforcement. The announcement came after several news reports on Friday said that the charges were imminent.

Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba also said that her office was dismissing the misdemeanor case against against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested after he attempted to join three members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation inspecting the facility in their oversight capacity. Habba said the decision was reached “for the sake of moving forward" and invited the mayor to the facility.

McIver’s attorney, Paul Fishman, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, issued a statement calling the decision to charge McIver “spectacularly inappropriate,” saying she went to Delaney Hall “to do her job” and she has the responsibility as a member of Congress to oversee ICE’s treatment of detainees.

“Rather than facilitating that inspection, ICE agents chose to escalate what should have been a peaceful situation into chaos,” Fishman said. “This prosecution is an attempt to shift the blame for ICE’s behavior to Congresswoman McIver. In the courtroom, facts — not headlines — will matter.”

What the video shows

A nearly two-minute clip released by the Homeland Security Department shows McIver on the facility side of a chain link fence just before the arrest of the mayor on the street side of the fence. She and uniformed officials go through the gate and she joins others shouting “surround the mayor.” The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people and officers. At one point her left elbow and then her right elbow push into an officer wearing a dark face covering and an olive green uniform emblazoned with the word “Police” on it.

McIver and the two other Democrats — Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr. — had denied any wrongdoing and had accused federal agents of escalating the situation by arresting the mayor.

McIver won a seat on Newark City Council in 2018 and became council president in 2022. She left the position and won her House seat in a September 2024 special election after the death of U.S. Rep. Donald Payne.

Political divide as administration uses actions in criminal courts

On Friday, U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-TX., appeared to call for charges against McIvor.

"LAMonica needs to go to LaJail," Hunt said on X.

In New Jersey, meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J. 6th District, called the new charges a "purely political act to stop a Member of Congress from doing her job."

"Oversight is not a criminal offense unless you are living under a fascist regime," Pallone said. "Like all Members of Congress, Representatives Menendez, Watson Coleman, and McIver have authority under the law to conduct oversight visits at federal ICE detention facilities. Instead, they were met by heavily armed agents with covered faces and no identification.

"Democratic lawmakers were delayed and harassed for doing their job, and now the Trump Administration is abusing their power to sideline their political opponents. I stand with Representative McIver and all my New Jersey colleagues. We must not stay silent while Trump and his lawless administration tears the Constitution to shreds.”

On May 9, Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the incident went "beyond a bizarre political stunt."

“Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility,” McLaughlin said.

Mayor Ras Baraka appears in federal court

On Thursday, before the feds moves to dismiss charges, Mayor Ras Baraka said federal prosecutors fingerprinted him and took a second mug shot in an attempt to "humiliate and degrade" him.

Baraka made the comments after a brief court appearance in federal court in Newark.

Read More: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in court for first time after ICE arrest

Baraka had denied that he committed any crime. His office shared video clips of the incident that he said showed ICE agents allowed him inside the facility gate and allowed him to calmly leave.

Last week on X, Habba said Baraka chose to disregard the law.

"The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark," Habba said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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