Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) announced Monday she would appeal a federal judge’s ruling denying her effort to toss charges for allegedly assaulting law enforcement outside a federal immigration facility earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper denied McIver’s efforts to toss the case on claims of vindictive prosecution, while also denying her bid from November to dismiss two of the three charges on claims of immunity under the Speech or Debate Clause. McIver announced she would appeal the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, claiming in a statement that the Justice Department’s case against her is “baseless” and “dangerous.”
“This appeal is for everyone who is standing up to this administration as they try to operate without oversight, silence the people who oppose them, and shut down those who protect the vulnerable,” McIver said. “They want to make an example out of me, but I will not let them.”
“I will not be bullied out of doing my job and protecting our communities. Not now, not ever,” she added.
The Justice Department charged the Democratic congresswoman, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2024, with three counts of assaulting, resisting, impeding, and interfering with a federal officer in May, after an incident at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark, New Jersey, that month. McIver was indicted by a grand jury in June and pleaded not guilty to all three charges later that month.
The DOJ alleges that McIver, who said she was there to inspect the facility, slammed a federal agent with her forearm, grabbed him, and struck another agent during a scuffle between Democratic officials and federal law enforcement outside the facility. McIver has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies and alleges that poor conditions exist for illegal immigrants at ICE detention centers.
McIver attempted to toss the charges, but Semper, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, rejected tossing two of the three charges. Semper said he would reserve ruling on the remaining count until he sees more evidence as the case develops in federal court.
“The alleged criminal conduct did not occur during Defendant’s inspection of Delany Hall; instead, it occurred during an inexplicable delay of Defendant’s oversight inspection,” Semper said in the November ruling. “Although Defendant bears no fault in the delay, her alleged intervention into the Mayor’s questionable arrest had no cognizable connection to any legislative function protected by the Speech or Debate Clause.”
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“Defendant’s active participation in the alleged conduct removes her acts from the safe harbor of mere oversight. Lawfully or unlawfully, Defendant actively engaged in conduct unrelated to her oversight responsibilities and congressional duties,” he added.
A resolution was brought in the House of Representatives earlier this year to censure McIver for her alleged actions, but the resolution failed when five Republicans joined all Democrats to vote down the measure.