A New Jersey congresswoman asked a federal appeals court to throw out charges pending against her for allegedly assaulting federal agents outside an immigration detention facility.
Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) was charged with assaulting, resisting, and impeding an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agent during a protest held May 9 outside Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey.
McIver previously asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that her unannounced visit to the facility was to provide congressional oversight and was protected under the U.S. Constitution’s speech or debate clause. The clause was enacted to prevent the executive branch from intimidating lawmakers.
The clause provides in part that members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate shall “be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.”
Videos from the protest appeared on social media, showing McIver standing with two other Democratic members of Congress, along with Newark’s Mayor Ras Baraka, outside a gate at the facility. One video shows McIver clashing with federal officers who tried to arrest the mayor, whom McIver appeared to be shielding from officers. The federal government said another video shows McIver pushing officers as they tried to arrest Baraka.
On Nov. 13, U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper of New Jersey denied McIver’s motion to dismiss the charges on the grounds that the prosecution against her was “vindictive” or an example of selective prosecution. Semper found that McIver’s actions at the facility were “wholly disconnected” from the oversight of federal immigration policy she was performing as a member of Congress.
“Impeding an arrest, whether lawful or unlawful, goes beyond any reasonable definition of oversight and, accordingly, exceeds the safe harbor of legislative immunity,” Semper said in a written opinion.
Semper deferred ruling for the time being on whether the speech or debate clause provides McIver with immunity from prosecution on the charge that she used force against a federal agent.
In the new appeal, McIver says she is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to review Semper’s denial of her motion to dismiss the charges. The two-page notice of appeal does not provide a rationale for the appeal.
McIver accused the Trump administration of acting against her for political reasons.
“The Trump administration’s case is dangerous, baseless, and designed to stop me from doing my job. It won’t,” she wrote in a post on X.
The Epoch Times reached out for comment to the U.S. Department of Justice. No reply was received by publication time.
Jill McLaughlin contributed to this report.
This article by Matthew Vadum appeared Dec. 30, 2025, in The Epoch Times.