Judge to Rule on NJ Congresswoman’s ICE Assault Charges

District Judge Jamel Semper of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey heard oral arguments on Oct. 21 involving Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who is accused of assaulting an immigration officer outside a New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center earlier this year.

In addition to being a member of Congress and a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, McIver sits on the House Committee on Small Business.

McIver’s trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 10.

“She is a member of Congress and the House Committee on Homeland Security,” Attorney Paul Fishman said in defense of McIver.

“She is supposed to see how ICE agents are behaving. If she were Republican, she would not have been prosecuted.”

Her attorneys filed four pretrial motions, including one on Sept. 25 asking Semper to dismiss the criminal charges based on legislative immunity.

The hearing at Newark Federal Court began at 11 a.m.

When McIver arrived wearing a purple suit, she was greeted by cheering supporters who had camped on the steps of the New Jersey courthouse on Walnut Street.

Bullhorn chants included “Drop the Charges,” “Protect Monica,” and “No Justice, No Peace.”

During a May 9 congressional visit to Newark’s Delaney Hall, McIver allegedly attempted to thwart the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka by making “forcible contact” with law enforcement officers after they ordered him to leave the facility’s secure area.

Delaney Hall is a privately owned 1,000-bed facility that is being used by ICE as a detention center.

McIver was charged by Interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba after the incident.

Baraka, who attended the Oct. 21 hearing, was not part of the May 2025 congressional delegation when he was arrested.

“A lot is at stake,” Baraka told The Epoch Times. “Her ability to be a congresswoman is at stake. Democracy is at stake.”

U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers appeared on behalf of the government, including federal prosecutor Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark McCarren, and told Semper not to consider McIver’s alleged assault as a legislative act worthy of immunity.

“Under the defendant’s logic, an attack on an ICE agent is protected, and it cannot be,” McCarren said in open court.

If convicted, McIver would face a maximum combined penalty of 17 years in prison on charges of “assaulting, resisting, impeding, and interfering” with federal officials.

Two counts of the three-count indictment have a maximum sentence of up to eight years. The third misdemeanor count carries a maximum penalty of one year.

Fishman, a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, compared McIver’s case to the plight of Jan. 6 defendants who were prosecuted after breaching the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

“Her reason for being there was oversight,” Fishman said. “Congresswoman McIver had every right to be at Delaney Hall. Jan. 6ers did not have authority to be in the U.S. Capitol, and people died. No one was harmed at Delaney Hall.”

The DOJ’s McCarren rejected McIver’s argument and cited 18 U.S.C. § 111, insisting that McIver is not similarly situated with Jan. 6 defendants whom President Donald Trump pardoned.

The DOJ website states that 18 U.S.C. § 111 is a U.S. federal law that makes it a crime to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, or interfere with certain federal officers or employees while they are performing their official duties.

“Jan. 6ers all received pardons,” McCarren said in court. “A pardoned individual cannot be prosecuted. There has to be a limiting principle because of pardoned individuals.”

Limiting principles like the U.S. Constitution and federal criminal law prevent pardons from being used to undermine the justice system.

After the hearing, McIver held a short press conference where she told supporters and the media that the legal process had not stopped her from doing the job she was elected for.

“I’m going to continue to show up and protect us,” she said. “We need protection. We have to continue to hold this administration accountable. We all know why this happened … because I was doing my job.”

Minneapolis Congresswoman Ilhan Omar attended the hearing but declined to comment when The Epoch Times requested an interview with her.