President Donald Trump has a history of using the Justice Department to target his adversaries. Now, N.J. Rep. LaMonica McIver finds the stakes incredibly high as she and several other Black leaders in positions of power appear to be the targets of a political campaign meant to remove them permanently.
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Specifically, the first-term Democrat faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted on assault and interference charges. These charges stem from an incident in May 2025 during a visit to the Delaney Hall immigrant detention facility in New Jersey. Notably, out of the three members of Congress involved in the incident, the Black congresswoman is the only one facing prison time.
We’ve been keeping you up to date with the fallout from the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. While the president has called his campaign to rid the country of undocumented immigrants a success, Democrats like McIver argued his policies are dangerous.
“Black and brown people here [in New Jersey]– especially the immigrant community– they are afraid to death,” Rep. McIver told The Root.
“They are scared to come outside,” she continued of Jersey migrant communities. “They haven’t sent their kids to school. That was one of the reasons why I showed up to Delaney Hall.”
It’s been over a year since she arrived to the gates of Delaney with Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez by her side. The goal, she explained, was to conduct a simple visit to the ICE facility, but quickly things turned south.
Members of Congress have the legal right to enter any ICE detention center without prior notice, according to federal law. But during the May trip, federal agents arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, which sparked a chaotic scuffle between the Jersey lawmakers and federal agents. During which, McIver was accused of shoving one agent, which is where her assault charge comes from.
“They saw a Black woman, an elected official, a congresswoman come in to assert power and they just hate that. This administration hates that,” McIver continued to us. “They want to do all that they can, especially to Black women, to stop them from doing their jobs and to box them out. That’s why we see all of these different attacks happening to Black leaders all across the country.”
We previously told you all about President Trump targeting his many political enemies since returning to office. Notably, Rep. McIver acknowledged the administration’s continuous attacks against Minn. Rep. Ilhan Omar. And even cases like New York District Attorney Letitia James, who famously won a civil lawsuit against the Republican back in 2024, are proof that the president’s true motive is to quell his opposition.
“This president thinks it’s okay and his administration thinks it’s okay to attack and try to intimidate and bully,” McIver said. “This is something that they continue to do.”
Still, the congresswoman said the case stop her from doing her job.”I’m not appointed to this position,” she added. “I’m elected by the members of my community who expect for me to protect them, to be their voice and to be a service to them.”
McIver was elected back in 2024 and is up for reelection come November. Given the ongoing case, the Democrat explained just how important this case is for Democracy.
“You vote for Congress and your congressional members to hold the president accountable and to be your voice in Congress,” she added. “With them trying to throw me in jail and trying to silence me, scare me and intimidate me, they are trying to take away the voice of the 800,000 people that I represent in New Jersey’s 10th [district].”
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