The House representative alleged she was selectively targeted by federal prosecutors after a clash with federal agents at an immigration detention center.
A federal judge denied a request by Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) on Thursday to toss out charges filed against her for allegedly assaulting federal agents outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in New Jersey earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper found the congresswoman failed to show the prosecution was vindictive and that her actions were “wholly disconnected” from the oversight she claims she was conducting as a member of Congress.
McIver asked the judge to dismiss the case because her visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention center on May 9 was protected by constitutional legislative immunity.
The New Jersey representative claims she was targeted by the Trump administration for “doing her job” by holding the administration accountable.
“We all know why this is happening,” McIver said outside the courtroom on Oct. 21. “I’m clear why this is happening: It’s because I was doing my job and I continue to do so.”
McIver did not return a request for comment about Thursday’s decision by the time of publication.
On May 19, prosecutors charged McIver with two counts of assaulting, resisting, and impeding an ICE agent and a Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) special agent during a protest held outside Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey. The 1,000-bed privately owned center is being used by the Trump administration to detain illegal immigrants.
The court reserved ruling on McIver’s motion to dismiss the case last month but instructed the government to remove certain public statements negatively describing McIver.
The Trump administration removed five online statements by the Department of Homeland Security that said representatives at the protest had “stormed the gate and broke into the facility” in a “bizarre political stunt.”
U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said on May 19 that McIver’s conduct at the ICE facility “cannot be overlooked” by prosecutors. Habba claimed she had made efforts to resolve the matter without filing criminal charges but that McIver declined “every opportunity to come to a resolution.”
