By MIKE CATALINI, TRENTON, N.J. (AP):- A federal judge on Thursday denied Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver’s motions to toss out a prosecution against her stemming from a visit to an immigration detention center this year.
U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper also said he would reserve judgment on one of the New Jersey congresswoman’s motions to toss the case brought by acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, who was President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney.
McIver sought to dismiss the case against her on the grounds that her visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall immigration detention center in May was protected on the grounds of constitutional legislative immunity as well as selective and vindictive prosecution.
Semper wrote that the congresswoman failed to show the prosecution was vindictive and that her actions were “wholly disconnected” from the oversight she was conducting as a member of Congress.
The case is a high-profile clash between Trump’s second administration and a Democratic lawmaker who has been sharply critical of the president’s policies. McIver has pleaded not guilty and vowed to continue her work as a lawmaker.
McIver as charged by Habba, a Republican, after the May 9 visit to Delaney Hall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility as a detention center.
She was indicted in June on three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding and interfering with federal officials. Two of the counts carry a maximum sentence of up to eight years in prison. The third is a misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of one year in prison.
Habba’s tenure as acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey is being challenged in court, with appellate judges having heard arguments in that case and a decision pending.
A nearly 2-minute video clip released by the Department of Homeland Security shows McIver at the facility inside a chain-link fence just before Newark Mayor Ras Baraka’s arrest on the other side of the barrier, where other people were protesting. McIver and uniformed officials go through the gate, and she joins others shouting that they should circle the mayor.
The video shows McIver in a tightly packed group of people including 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.”
It is not clear from police body camera video if the contact was intentional, incidental or the result of jostling in the chaotic scene. The judge’s opinion on Wednesday cites video footage and says McIver pushed and was pushed during the incident.
The government’s complaint alleges that she “slammed” her forearm into an agent and then tried to restrain the agent by grabbing him.
The indictment also says she placed her arms around the mayor to try to stop his arrest and says again that she slammed her forearm into and grabbed an agent.
A trespassing charge against the mayor was later dropped.
Members of Congress are legally authorized to go into federal immigration facilities as part of their oversight powers, even without notice. Congress passed a 2019 appropriations bill spelling out that authority.
McIver first came to Congress in September in a special election after the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. left a vacancy in the 10th District. She was then elected to a full term in November.