(NEWARK, N.J.) — New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging she assaulted law enforcement officers outside of an immigration detention facility, her office said.
McIver appeared in a federal court on Wednesday for her arraignment after a federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment earlier this month charging her with “assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering” with federal law enforcement officers.
The Democratic congresswoman has alleged the prosecution is politically motivated and her office called the charges “baseless.”
“Rep. McIver has confidently entered her official plea: not guilty. She is crystal clear that she will not back down as leaders across this country are targeted for speaking up,” her spokeswoman, Hanna Rumsey, said in a statement Wednesday. “These charges have always been about politics and Rep. McIver will not be deterred from doing the work the people of New Jersey elected her to do. The Congresswoman will not fold.”
On May 9, McIver and several other members of Congress were at Delaney Hall, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Newark, to conduct oversight.
Tensions escalated when a federal officer ordered Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to leave a secured area of the facility or face arrest, and pushing and shoving allegedly occurred, according to prosecutors.
“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,” the Department of Justice said in a press release following the indictment. “McIver also used each of her forearms to forcibly strike a second officer.”
Following the indictment, McIver said the “facts are on our side.”
“The facts of this case will prove I was simply doing my job and will expose these proceedings for what they are: a brazen attempt at political intimidation,” she said in a statement at the time. “This indictment is no more justified than the original charges, and is an effort by Trump’s administration to dodge accountability for the chaos ICE caused and scare me out of doing the work I was elected to do. But it won’t work — I will not be intimidated.”
Supporters of McIver gathered outside the Newark federal court on Wednesday, with some calling for the closure of Delaney Hall.
If convicted, the maximum penalty for the charges in the indictment ranges from one to eight years, according to interim New Jersey U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
“As I have stated in the past, it is my Constitutional obligation as the Chief Federal Law Enforcement Officer for New Jersey to ensure that our federal partners are protected when executing their duties,” Habba, President Donald Trump’s former defense attorney, said in a statement following the indictment. “While people are free to express their views for or against particular policies, they must not do so in a manner that endangers law enforcement and the communities those officers serve.”
Baraka was arrested at the facility and charged with trespassing, though Habba later dropped the charge.
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