Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-New Jersey) has denied the allegations that she assaulted federal agents during a scuffle outside an immigration detention facility last spring.
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A federal appeals court cleared the way Wednesday for the Justice Department to proceed with its assault case against Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-New Jersey) over a heated confrontation that erupted outside an immigration detention facility near Newark last year.
In a 2-1 decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled that McIver is not shielded from prosecution because the alleged attack occurred during a legislative oversight inspection of conditions at the Delaney Hall detention facility.
Federal prosecutors have accused McIver of assaulting two detention officers amid a scuffle that broke out between demonstrators and security staff at the site during the May 2025 visit. The case drew swift backlash from Democrats and other members of Congress who have described it as another example of the Trump administration’s efforts to use the courts to target and intimidate critics
McIver has denied the allegations and has argued the case should be thrown out because the Constitution grants federal lawmakers immunity from prosecution for their legislative acts. A lower court rejected that view in a ruling last year.
In its opinion Wednesday, the 3rd Circuit panel affirmed that earlier ruling and agreed with the distinction it made between McIver’s congressionally authorized inspection of the facility and her involvement in the confrontation with agents.
“The acts of pushing past someone and forcibly striking someone are unambiguously non-legislative,” U.S. Circuit Court Judge Cindy K. Chung wrote for the majority. “They are not integral to the legislative process.”
The panel, however, urged the lower court to reexamine one of the three counts of assaulting or impeding officers that McIver faces.
Unlike the other two charges — which cite specific moments where McIver is accused of making physical contact with specific agents — the third broadly accuses her of “forcibly” attempting to impede agents’ work during the entirety of the incident. The appellate court said that wide scope could include elements of the inspection visit that would be protected under the law.
“I fundamentally believe that the court got it wrong here,” the congresswoman, who is running for reelection in November, said in a statement Wednesday.
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“To protect the people, their elected representatives must be authorized to conduct oversight of the executive branch without fear of retaliation,” she said. “Today’s decision chills that authority and emboldens the Trump administration to continue persecuting our most vulnerable communities, those who try to defend them, and anyone who dares hold the president or his lackeys accountable.”
She did not say whether she would appeal Wednesday’s ruling either to the full 3rd Circuit bench or to the Supreme Court but added “we are exploring every possible option.”
Chung, an appointee of President Joe Biden, was joined in the decision by Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Donald Trump appointee. The third member of the panel — Judge Thomas L. Ambro, a judicial pick of President Bill Clinton — partially dissented, seizing primarily on another argument advanced by McIver and her lawyers: that the case amounted to a vindictive effort by the Justice Department for her criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.
The judge overseeing McIver’s case rejected those claims, and Chung and Bibas ruled Wednesday that the congresswoman would have to wait until after an eventual trial to appeal that decision.
Ambro, however, contended that unusual circumstances surrounding McIver’s case warranted giving McIver an opportunity now to seek evidence from the Trump administration to support her arguments seeking dismissal of her charges.
“Potentially retaliatory prosecutions of sitting members of Congress are exceedingly rare,” Ambro wrote. “But when they do occur, the constitutional foundation of our government is at risk.”
He also credited McIver’s argument that the Justice Department’s move, under Trump’s orders, to dismiss scores of cases last year against rioters charged with participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — many of whom were similarly accused of assaulting law enforcement — showed she was being singled out.
Unlike many of them who were accused of injuring officers, in some cases with makeshift weapons, McIver maintained any physical contact she had with agents outside Delaney Hall was incidental as she was caught up in the movement of the crowd of protesters.
“Congresswoman McIver is less criminally culpable than” many of those accused in the Jan. 6 attacks, Ambro wrote. “That means there was no legitimate reason to dismiss their charges but not hers.”
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