A liberal lawmaker accused of shoving federal agents at a migrant detention center previously blamed her political opponents for declining civility in politics.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) threatened to arrest Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey and others after a Friday scuffle between agents and politicians trying to conduct “oversight” of the agency’s Delaney Hall facility. Videos from multiple angles appear to show McIver — who accuses the Trump administration of lacking “decency” — angrily pushing and resisting law enforcement as the situation turned chaotic.
DHS identified McIver as a woman “wearing a red blazer” in multiple clips of her allegedly “assaulting” an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. McIver also appeared in media interviews at the scene while wearing the outfit.
McIver’s office and DHS did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Among her other messaging, McIver spoke out about the importance of remaining calm in the face of “outrage” when the White House posted a picture of President Donald Trump dressed like a Catholic pope.
“I know that there are those who thrive on stirring outrage — who see our pain, our decency, as weakness,” McIver said in a May 3 X post days before allegedly strong-arming federal agents. “But we must not give them that satisfaction.”
In April and March, the New Jersey Democrat called the Trump administration “awful” and deemed it guilty of creating an “unhinged” era of politics.
“Democrats are used to dealing with a government that can be professional, that can operate with decency,” McIver said in a local media interview. “And we’re not seeing that.”
“People sent us here to be mature leaders, to have decent conversations, and to be able to compromise to make things work for all of us,” McIver said. “They’re not doing that.”
The lawmaker also walked out of Trump’s joint address to Congress in March, declaring that his words about “diversity, immigration and trans kids” and other topics were harmful. McIver previously endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for president and vice president in an October X post by saying that Americans should vote “unity,” “decency,” “joy” and other qualities into office.
McIver was outdoors at the ICE facility on Friday with Democratic New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Coleman and Robert Menendez and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka in what McIver called an “oversight visit.” The DHS said after the incident that they were part of a crowd that “stormed” Delaney Hall, but the four deny any wrongdoing, with McIver accusing ICE of escalating the situation.
“The fact that it was three members of Congress who trespass[ed], broke the law, and stormed that I.C.E. detention facility,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF. “They put law-enforcement at risk. They put our detainees at risk and put our staff at risk.”
“Had they asked for a tour we would have happily facilitated one for them but there was absolutely no notice and the fact that they put hands on, body slammed, body rammed, pushed, shoved, whatever you want to call it, it was an assault on I.C.E. agents and it [was] unacceptable,” McLaughlin said.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include a quote from the DHS.
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