The fracas outside of Delaney Hall in Newark took center stage during a meeting Tuesday of a Congressional oversight subcommittee that was investigating threats to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, had vowed before the hearing to delve into the details of the episode.
During the hearing, Van Drew, D-2nd Dist., accused Democratic Congress members from New Jersey of protecting undocumented immigrants. His comments came the day after interim U.S. Attorney for New jersey Alina Habba announced federal assault charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-10th Dist.
“Let’s call this what it is: an orchestrated campaign to protect illegal, alien criminals, and sabotage federal law enforcement,” Van Drew said Tuesday about the May 9 scuffle between Congressional members in front of Delaney Hall that also resulted in the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
“And for what? To free whom? Criminals?” Van Drew said. “It was about politics. Pure and simple.”
In the announcement Monday night, Habba — who was President Donald Trump‘s personal attorney before being appointed by Trump as New Jersey’s interim federal prosecutor — said McIver assaulted and interfered with law enforcement as they arrested Baraka.
During the two-hour meeting, that at times turned contentious, Van Drew repeated Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin’s characterization that Congress members “stormed” the facility without clearance. He also said Congress members failed to follow protocol and “physically disrupted law enforcement operations.”
But Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, subcommittee ranking member, forcefully pushed back on Van Drew’s characterization of events and noted it is Baraka’s responsibility as a mayor to ensure all buildings are properly inspected to meet code regulations.
“The fact is, as the mayor of any city, ...there is a duty...to make sure that any and every building that is opened in that city is up to code,” Crockett said.
In her opening statement, Crockett noted that Habba has consistently defended President Trump’s actions and helped him avoid accountability and now has gone as far as charged a member of Congress for exercising her right to conduct oversight of a federal facility.
“This administration is criminalizing legislative oversight, and the Republicans on this committee are helping them to do so,” Crockett said. “Representative McIver didn’t engage in interference. It was ICE that engaged in interference while members of congress attempted to conduct legitimate oversight of ICE facilities.”
Ranking member of the judiciary committee Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland called Habba a “blatantly partisan prosecutor” and characterized the charges against McIver an attempt by the Trump administration to “create big news.”
On Tuesday night, McIver called the statement from Habba “purely political.”
“Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district,” McIver said in a statement. “We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short.
“Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor Baraka. The charges against me are purely political—they mischaracterize and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalize and deter legislative oversight."
Video from the incident at Delaney Hall shows security allowing Baraka inside a gate to the detention center.
Baraka later voluntarily returned to the other side of the gate where demonstrators were located after officials demanded he leave the property or be arrested.
Moments later, New Jersey three Congressional members, who were at Delaney Hall for an oversight visit, rushed to the gate, warning demonstrators to encircle Baraka to keep him from being arrested, video shows.
A scuffle broke out between masked federal agents, demonstrators, Congress members and staffers as Baraka was dragged back through the gate into the facility and handcuffed, video from the incident shows.
In her statement Monday night announcing the charges against McIver, Habba also announced that charges were being dropped against Baraka.
Baraka and Newark inspection officials had been at the facility earlier in the day to serve the private company that runs the facility through a government contract, GEO Group, with citations for building violations regarding inspections.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Van Drew called Baraka’s attempts to inspect the facility and threats to “padlock” the gates if necessary, “obstruction” rather than oversight.
Baraka returned to the Delaney Hall later in the afternoon on May 9 after hearing New Jersey congress members Bonnie Watson Coleman, Robert Menendez Jr. and McIver were at the facility for an oversight visit.
Baraka has said GEO Group officials have not allowed building inspectors inside to facility to ensure the building complies with city codes. Federal officials, including Rep. Van Drew at Tuesday’s hearing, and ICE spokesperson Tricia McGloughlin say the facility has all of the required permits to operate.
Baraka was initially charged with criminal trespass, but the charges were dropped Monday by the New Jersey District Attorney’s Office in the same statement announcing charges against McIver.
Delaney Hall is a 1,000-bed detention center that was recently reopened under the Trump administration to house illegal immigrants.
Stories by Matthew Enuco
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Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com.