Several Republicans joined House Democrats on Wednesday to kill a GOP effort to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) over a chaotic scrum with law enforcement that unfolded as a group of officials attempted to tour a detention center and immigration agents arrested the Newark mayor.
A Democratic effort to table the censure motion was approved 215-207. The censure proposal was sponsored by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), and would also have removed McIver from her post on the House Homeland Security Committee.
GOP Reps. Kevin Kiley (Calif.), Don Bacon (Neb.), David Joyce (Ohio), Mike Turner (Ohio) and David Valadao (Calif.) sided with Democrats to crush the measure, while House Homeland Security Committee Chair Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) voted “present.”
McIver had previously blasted the GOP-led resolution.
“We were all elected to do the people’s work. I take that responsibility seriously—Clay Higgins clearly does not. Instead of making life any better for the people he represents, he’s seeking to punish me for doing what he and his caucus are too cowardly to do: conduct real oversight, stand up to this administration, and do our jobs,” she said in a Tuesday statement ahead of the vote.
“If House Republicans think they can make me run scared, they’re wrong.”
During the vote, the proceedings were repeatedly interrupted by Democrats shouting, “You’re not in order.”
In footage from the May episode, McIver can be seen bracing herself as she is jostled among the crowd in a confusing scene outside of Delaney Hall immigration detention center in New Jersey.
McIver and two other lawmakers were then permitted to tour the new detention facility, but days later then-interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba brought charges against McIver for having “slammed her forearms” into law enforcement.
The move to censure McIver as well as the pending charges have been highly criticized by Democrats as an effort to chill congressional oversight and pushback on Trump policies from Democrats.
Democrats on Wednesday also brought their own censure resolution against Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), who was investigated for allegedly assaulting a significant other in February. Upon learning of that incident, another girlfriend broke up with Mills, only to receive threats to release sexually explicit images of her, the woman said. Mills, who is married, has denied the allegations from each woman. The first woman has since recanted her allegations of abuse, and Mills has not been charged with any crime.
The leader of that censure effort, Rep. Yvette Clark (D-N.Y.) said she was now “inclined” to table her own motion but still wants to speak to McIver.
“We just never know with our colleagues whether they’re going to be collegial or not. And the reason I introduced it today was to let them know that, you know, they need to look in the mirror at their own conference,” she said after the vote.
“We can’t make a mockery of the tools we have at our disposal to discipline within the body. There was nothing that called for LaMonica to be brought before the body. I believe, quite frankly, that the charges against her are trumped up.”
The charges against McIver for assaulting officers carry serious penalties – as much as 17 years in prison if convicted. The next hearing in the case is in October.
The tangle between lawmakers and immigration officials came as Delaney Hall staffers sought to block the entry of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (D). While lawmakers have the right to make unannounced visits to detention facilities, other government officials do not.
When immigration officers said they would arrest Baraka, the visit became heated.
“After numerous warnings to leave, and numerous warnings of potential arrest, the [Homeland Security Investigations] agent announced he was going to place the Mayor under arrest. McIVER interjected, yelling ‘Hell no! Hell no! Hell no!’ The HSI agent ordered the Mayor to put his hands behind his back and displayed his handcuffs. McIVER and other members of Congress surrounded the Mayor and prevented HSI from handcuffing him and taking him into custody,” according to the criminal filing.
“At that time, McIVER hurried outside towards the agents and attempted to thwart the arrest as others yelled ‘circle the Mayor,’” it continued. “McIVER faced the Mayor and placed her arms around him. She and others encircled him in a ‘human shield’ effort to prevent HSI from completing the arrest that was initiated in the secured area.”
The filing then detailed McIver using her forearms to engage in “forcible contact.”
Federal prosecutors in New Jersey ultimately dropped the charges against Baraka, earning a rebuke from the judge overseeing that matter.
U.S. District Judge Andre Espinosa said during a May hearing that his arrest suggested a “worrisome misstep” by the New Jersey’s U.S. attorney’s office, noting the “apparent rush” in bringing the case that culminated in the government’s “embarrassing” retraction of the charge.
Baraka has since sued over his arrest, making claims of false arrest, malicious prosecution and defamation, and accuses Habba of acting as a “political operative, outside of any function intimately related to the judicial process.”
Habba’s authority has also since come into question.
A former personal attorney to President Trump, Habba was serving as the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey on an interim basis, but her authority lapsed after 120 days and judges declined to extend her tenure.
The Trump administration tried to sidestep that limitation by withdrawing Habba’s nomination and listing her as an acting U.S. attorney, though a federal judge has ruled that she is unlawfully acting in that role.
Emily Brooks and Ella Lee contributed.
