Rep. LaMonica McIver will visit a New Jersey immigrant detention facility Tuesday for the first time since the Trump administration filed charges against her over a scuffle that broke out with immigration officers there earlier this year, a source familiar with the matter told NOTUS.
McIver plans to visit Delaney Hall, where a 41-year-old detainee, Jean Wilson Brutus, died earlier this month, one day after he was taken into custody by federal authorities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
“This incident demands immediate answers,” McIver said in a statement after ICE announced Brutus’ death. “We’ve heard about ICE detainees across the country being denied treatment and medication. I want to know exactly what happened, the circumstances of this individual’s confinement and treatment, and what care he did or did not receive.”
“The Constitution grants Congress oversight authority for a reason. Someone must be able to speak for the voiceless, go where others are not allowed, and uncover the abuses that we know take place in the dark. Delaney Hall must be closed immediately and a full, independent, investigation needs to take place,” McIver continued.
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The New Jersey lawmaker last visited the detention facility in May. At the time, police arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was later released. A month later, authorities charged McIver with allegedly assaulting agents as they moved to arrest Baraka.
McIver’s attorneys argue that her prosecution is politically motivated. In November, a federal judge declined to dismiss her charges, writing that the congresswoman “engaged in conduct unrelated to her oversight responsibilities and congressional duties.”
The Trump administration has denied several members of Congress access to ICE facilities. A dozen House Democrats sued ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, arguing that individual members of Congress had a right to conduct oversight of ICE facilities where there are migrants without a newly implemented notice period.
Last week, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing policies that keep lawmakers from entering ICE facilities for oversight purposes. Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Dan Goldman, who were involved in the lawsuit, on Monday successfully conducted oversight of a New York ICE facility they were previously denied access to.
Following incidents like the Trump administration’s prosecution of McIver, Democratic lawmakers have started taking out liability insurance, with some senators forming legal defense funds, anticipating that government officials could go after them.
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