Rep McIver pleads not guilty to assault, interference charges in Newark ICE facility incident

New Jersey Democrat Rep. LaMonica McIver pleaded not guilty Wednesday in federal court to assault and interference charges in connection with an incident last month at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark.

McIver was initially charged in a criminal complaint by interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba before a federal grand jury indicted her this month for allegedly forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers. The charges carry maximum sentences of eight years in prison for two of them and a maximum of one year in prison for the third.

The charges are from a protest at the Delaney Hall ICE facility in which McIver participated and allegedly assaulted a law enforcement officer, slamming him with her forearm, “forcibly” grabbing him, and using her forearms to strike another agent. She was at the protest with fellow New Jersey Democratic Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez, Jr.

According to prosecutors, McIver sought to block the arrest of Newark Democrat Mayor Ras Baraka, whom lawmakers had invited to the facility but who was later ordered by a federal officer to leave, The Hill news outlet reported.

Last month, McIver said she rejected a plea deal, suggesting officials wanted her to “admit to doing something that I did not do.”  

“Rep. McIver has confidently entered her official plea: not guilty,” McIver spokesperson Hanna Rumsey said. “She is crystal clear that she will not back down as leaders across this country are targeted for speaking up. 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.”