A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Tricia McLaughlin, raised the possibility that the Trump administration could pursue arrests of House Democrats involved in a disturbance at a New Jersey ICE detention facility. McLaughlin accused the lawmakers of assaulting ICE officers, claiming there is body camera footage of the incident, including one instance where a female ICE officer was allegedly body-slammed. Her comments followed an incident where Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested for trespassing during the congressional visit.
McLaughlin indicated that further actions against Congress members are under consideration, emphasizing that ICE has video evidence of the incident. She tweeted that assaults against ICE agents would not be tolerated from anyone, including members of Congress. The Democratic lawmakers—Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman, Rob Menendez, and LaMonica McIver—asserted their right to conduct oversight at ICE facilities without prior notice and reported intimidation and aggression from ICE during their visit.
No evidence of violence by the Congress members was noted in their statements. In response to the allegations, Watson Coleman called the claims “absurd” and accused DHS of lying to deflect from their misconduct. Mayor Baraka criticized McLaughlin’s comments as “ridiculous,” pointing out that Watson Coleman, at 80, would not be physically capable of body-slamming an officer.
Spokespeople for both the U.S. attorney’s office and the Congress members did not immediately respond to requests for comments. As the situation develops, the tensions between DHS and the lawmakers reveal deeper disputes over immigration enforcement and congressional oversight.
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